Jake Nelson

The 21-year-old aircraft, VH-8TG, was last used by Indonesian carrier Sriwijaya Air before its freighter conversion, with other past operators including Garuda Indonesia and Ryanair. It can carry over 23.9 tonnes of cargo.

The twice-weekly return flights on Tuesday and Saturday, beginning 21 November, mark Vietjet’s entry into Australia’s west coast and will raise the airline’s flights between Australia and Vietnam to 19 per week. The route will be serviced by 230-seat Airbus A321neo aircraft.

FlyPelican will operate two hour-long flights per week between Narrabri and its base in Newcastle, starting on 25 August. Currently, Narrabri is served only by Link Airways, which flies to Brisbane and Sydney.

CSIRO’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Roadmap, developed in concert with Boeing, asserts that Australia has a “moment-in-time opportunity” to develop its own SAF industry, with domestic demand for jet fuel expected to surge 75 per cent by 2050.

The Qatari flag carrier, which is allowed to operate 28 weekly flights across Australia’s four major airports of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, also flies daily between Doha and Adelaide via Melbourne. There is no restriction on the number of flights it can operate to minor airports.

The Hong Kong-based carrier will fly six times per week between Hong Kong and Brisbane using the Boeing 777-300ER, up from four times per week, adding up to 76,440 inbound seats in the first year of operation as well as extra cargo space for exports.