Jake Nelson

Qantas and Jetstar anticipate more than 8.5 million passengers across 70,000 flights in December and January, over half a million more than the 2022–23 holiday period. 15 December is expected to be the busiest day, with more than 150,000 passengers.

Flight VA916 from Brisbane, on 10 March, landed with a force of 2.96 Gs following an initial bounce, caused by the aircraft being flared late. The aircraft, VH-YQR, was undamaged, and none of the 179 passengers or six crew members aboard were injured.

More than 1.31 million international seats will be available to and from Melbourne this month, which represents 101 per cent of the 1.29 million seats available in December 2019. The news comes as Aircalin resumes services between Melbourne and New Caledonia after more than three years.

Flight VN791 arrived in Perth late Thursday night on board the 274-seat 787-9 Dreamliner VN-A865, and returned to Ho Chi Minh City shortly after midnight as VN790. The service, first announced in September, will operate three times per week.

The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, with the BoM predicting it to hit between Cape Flattery and Cardwell. Damaging winds are expected in the Cairns region starting on Tuesday, potentially extending as far as Townsville or Cape Melville.

Using an A350-900 aircraft, the SQ265/266 service will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, adding to SIA’s existing three daily flights between Brisbane and Singapore and bringing its total weekly return Brisbane flights to 25. It follows a successful seasonal service this year.