Jake Nelson

The low-cost carrier is now behind only Qantas as it grew 149 per cent internationally in Brisbane over the past year, thanks to a massive ramp-up in Asia flights and a boost in services to Auckland.

The Qantas CEO’s comments come after Bonza, which had ambitions to connect mostly regional destinations unserved or underserved by the major players, was put into liquidation earlier this month.

The not-for-profit’s helicopters and jets assisted 8,177 people in FY24, up 11.2 per cent on the previous year. LifeFlight helicopters chalked up 5,159 total flying hours, an increase of 25 per cent, across 3,378 total rotary-wing missions.

The airline currently operates 24 round trips per week from Perth to Mt Keith and Perth to Leinster on behalf of BHP Nickel West, effectively occupying two of its Fokker 100 aircraft full-time.

The airport is set to install a new 2.3MWp (megawatt peak) photovoltaic solar system, which it says would provide enough energy to power 1,000 homes per year, on the domestic and international terminal roof.

More than 16.1 million passengers used the airport in FY24, breaking the previous record of 14.9 million in FY14. The airport also saw its highest ever number of regional passengers, at just over six million – outstripping interstate at 5.7 million and international at 4.3 million.