Jake Nelson

The airport is the first major gateway in Australia to surpass total pre-pandemic passenger figures, though Melbourne in December outstripped its previous record for international capacity, and comes after a record 2023 for Perth with more than 15 million passengers in the calendar year.

Flight QF1226 took off from Melbourne at 10:24am on Friday on board QantasLink’s second A220, VH-X4B, touching down in Canberra at 11:09am. Qantas also began operating A220s on its Melbourne–Brisbane route on Friday.

Starting on 20 May, QantasLink will fly two fewer services per week to the regional NSW city, but capacity will be maintained by replacing all De Havilland Dash-8 Q300s currently serving the route with 74-seater Q400s.

Created by Australian fashion designer Genevieve Smart in consultation with 40 Jetstar pilots, cabin staff and airport employees, the uniforms will be worn by more than 5,000 Jetstar workers across Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore starting later this year.

Ninety per cent of employees approved the deal, which includes pay increases of between 14 and 18 per cent over three years, as well as an extra six days off per year, recognition for unpaid standby time, and overtime after nine hours.

As part of the deal, which began in 2015 and is now authorised until March 2029, the two airlines plan to operate a fourth daily seasonal Auckland–Singapore service from 27 October 2024 to 29 March 2025. The carriers say the partnership has grown NZ–Singapore seat capacity by 50 per cent.