Jake Nelson

The rainbow livery has been added to the nine-year-old A320-200 VH-VFY, which returned to Jetstar’s domestic network on Wednesday after its repainting in the airline’s Melbourne engineering hangar.

The airline has selected the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) version of the ALIA battery-electric aircraft for its fleet, with the first expected to be in service for cargo flights with NZ Post by 2026. Air New Zealand has a firm order for one ALIA, with options for an extra two and rights for a further 20.

Bonza has already axed all Gold Coast–Darwin flights for December, with the route to now launch on 2 January. Other Gold Coast routes, including Melbourne’s Avalon Airport and Cairns, have been delayed indefinitely while CASA’s approval process continues for its wet-lease agreement with Flair.

In a significant intervention as part of its submission responding to the Aviation Green Paper, the peak body for airports appeared to accuse domestic airlines of slot hoarding and endorsed a Senate inquiry’s recommendation for the ACCC to look into the sector.

Max York, who previously led GE’s commercial aviation activities in the Asia-Pacific region and has also served as a commander in the Australian Navy, joins AMSL co-founders Andrew Moore and Siobhan Lyndon as they prepare to bring the Vertiia eVTOL aircraft to market in Australia and overseas.

The “first of its kind” trial, led by Wisk Aero and including RPAS operator Insitu Pacific, the NZ Civil Aviation Authority, ATC operator Airways NZ, and Indigenous-led aerospace venture Tāwhaki, incorporated take-offs, landings, and navigation through controlled and uncontrolled airspace.