Jake Nelson

The passenger numbers were bolstered by three major concert events over the month – Taylor Swift, Pink and Blink 182 – as well as the leap year offering an extra day of travel.

The low-cost airline is set to increase frequencies and use larger aircraft on domestic and Bali routes in the NT, adding around 54,000 seats per year, or a 12 per cent increase over existing services.

The airline says it has flown more than 100,000 people to and from Rockhampton since its first flight to the city, which at the 2021 census had just under 80,000 residents, on 13 March last year. Bonza flies from Rockhampton to Townsville, Cairns, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, and the Sunshine Coast.

The low-cost carrier is flying A320neos and A321neos from the Malaysian capital alongside AirAsia X’s A330 flights, doubling the group’s Kuala Lumpur–Perth services from seven to 14 per week. The first AK604 service from KL touched down in Perth just after 7:34pm on Monday aboard the A321neo 9M-VAA.

Project Ulysses, to be built in northern Queensland, aims to produce 102 million litres of alcohol-based SAF and 11 million litres of renewable diesel per year. Jet Zero has now secured investment from Japanese energy conglomerate Idemitsu Kosan as a new strategic shareholder.

The extension, valued at more than $370 million, will come into effect from 1 January 2026, and will see Babcock continue to supply Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for AV until 2030. AV’s HEMS responded to 2,197 incidents last year, with an average of almost 200 cases each month.