Jake Nelson

Starting in December, the low-cost carrier will fly non-stop between Melbourne and Fiji three times per week, carrying an estimated 72,000 passengers per year. Its existing Sydney service will also be changed to three times per week from December, using the neo from October.

The carrier confirmed that the two routes are being shut down for five months following a performance review, which considered demand and forward bookings among other factors. This will allow Virgin to reallocate the aircraft and resources from these routes to services in higher demand.

Flight NC344 departed Brisbane for Moranbah on Monday morning as the inaugural service for NJE’s contract with mining giant BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA). The carrier will use de Havilland Dash 8-Q400NG aircraft in the state, with a second to be introduced to Queensland next month.

Civil Air accused the organisation responsible for managing Australia’s skies of a “constant reliance on overtime”, which it argued had led to tiredness and work/life balance issues among employees.

Hainan Airlines has restarted twice-weekly Airbus A330 return services between Melbourne and Haikou, meaning almost all eight of the mainland Chinese carriers that operated to Melbourne before COVID-19 have come back to the airport. The flights will expand capacity between Melbourne and China by more than 1200 seats per week.

The low-cost carrier will operate three return flights per week from Sydney to Rarotonga using its Airbus A321neo LR (NEO) aircraft, with the first flight taking off for Avarua last Thursday night as JQ141 on board VH-OFS.