Jake Nelson

Around 300 engineers from the “alliance unions” – the AMWU, AWU and ETU – embarked on a 24-hour strike on Wednesday morning following Qantas’ “refusal” to meet with workers on a new enterprise agreement, with rallies held outside Melbourne and Brisbane’s international terminals.

The Cessna 150, VH-EYU, appeared to stall and collided with the ground shortly after take-off from Bacchus Marsh Aerodrome at Parwan in Melbourne’s North West at around 11:20am, killing its male pilot. The plane was registered to Bacchus Marsh Aero Club.

QF-designated services in September saw an on-time departure rate of 77.1 per cent and on-time arrivals of 76 per cent, compared to 73.1 per cent and 73 per cent respectively for VA flights; however, Virgin’s cancellation rate was half of Qantas’ at 1.4 per cent compared to 2.8 per cent.

Airservices has asked for a weighted 6 per cent price rise in 2024–25, a significant drop from its initially planned four price increases between April 2024 and January 2026, which would have between them raised the weighted average prices by 19 per cent in nominal terms.

In its application to the competition watchdog, Virgin requested interim authorisation for the flights by November 2024 for a launch in June 2025, to coincide with the peak northern summer period as well as major events like the 2025 British and Irish Lions rugby tour.

The plane was originally expected to arrive in the country this month to help launch Skytrans’ wet-leasing business after its acquisition earlier this year by global aviation firm Avia Solutions Group.