Jake Nelson

Announced in February as part of a slew of government reforms, the competitive tender process will require prospective slot managers to demonstrate how they would deliver on those reforms, and “manage and mitigate conflicts of interest in a transparent way”.

Snow, who announced in May he was stepping back from active management of the airport after 26 years, died of natural causes this week.

The four trainees studied 10 weeks online and 20 weeks face-to-face, and will now return to Australia for additional instruction in Airservices’ Melbourne facility before being sent to control towers at regional airports for their final field training.

Speaking on ABC Radio National on Thursday morning, Rod Sims insisted that the Australian aviation market can sustain more competition, but said this is being held back by poor policy settings around slot management at Sydney Airport.

The news comes as three of Australia’s four major gateways – Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – remain below pre-pandemic levels, while Perth has exceeded them on the back of strong regional passenger figures.

The Australian has reported Sam Freeman, a partner at administrator EY Australia, saying Rex’s 737 fleet is “permanently grounded” and that EY is looking to present sale options to creditors within 25 working days. Asian investor PAG is believed to be in the mix.