Jake Nelson

The airline will operate four return A330-200 services per week starting 28 October, bringing an estimated 170,000 additional inbound seats to Queensland over three years. It will mark the first time Qantas has flown between Brisbane and Manila in more than a decade.

The Flying Kangaroo will end its Sydney–Shanghai route, which operates five times per week using its A330-300 fleet, from 28 July citing low demand. China Eastern Airlines is currently the only other carrier that flies between Sydney and Shanghai.

A spokesperson for Virgin confirmed to Australian Aviation that the carrier will fly five times per week from Brisbane to Port Vila, up from twice per week, for the remainder of May and June at the request of the Australian government. Virgin is the only other airline to fly from Australia to Vanuatu.

Coal miner Glencore and gold miner Newmont have signed on for contract extensions of three and five years respectively for Alliance’s FIFO operations, which serve Glencore’s mine at Emerald, Queensland, and Newmont’s mine at Tanami in the Northern Territory.

A station could be built on existing land that was planned to house it in the 1980s, said Avalon CEO Tony Brun, who added that the airport already owns the necessary land and is willing to chip in money to support the project. According to Brun, a rail link would be “transformative” for the airport.

Airstrips in remote communities across the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and NSW will be given grants of $5,000 to $3 million to upgrade their facilities by 2026 as part of the government’s Remote Airstrip Upgrade Program.