Jake Nelson

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the Transport Minister outlined the decision as part of the Federal Government’s continued support for Rex, which has helped the airline’s regional Saab 340 flights continue to operate while it remains in administration.

YJ-AV73 is operating charter services daily between Port Vila and Santo, and between Port Vila and Tanna, complementing scheduled charter services that restarted earlier this month using the Vanuatuan flag carrier’s DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft.

As part of the Aviation White Paper, the Government has identified barriers to disability access in aviation including unreasonably long check-in wait times, refusal of assistance animals, wheelchair access limits, and disability-unfriendly design.

Transport Minister Catherine King said the industry-run Airline Customer Advocate (ACA), which is widely considered ineffectual in addressing consumer complaints and refund requests, ‘hasn’t made enough progress’ in fixing these issues.

The work stoppages will occur from 1am to 5am, 7am to 11am, and 6pm to 10pm on Friday 23 August, and could affect 16 airlines including Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar, Air New Zealand, Delta and British Airways, with longer domestic and long-haul international flights most likely to be impacted.

The 777X fleet, slated to be the world’s largest twin-engine widebody when it begins operations, has been grounded after a key component – said to be a structural component between the engine and the airframe – was found to be faulty.