Jake Nelson

The airline will fly daily between the two capitals using its fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with the first flight, ZL817, taking off from Sydney on Thursday aboard VH-RQG. According to Rex deputy chairman John Sharp, the route has already seen “strong demand from eager travellers”.

Tom Ganley, who has almost 35 years of airport experience including as a director and former chair of the Australian Airports Association (AAA), will take up the position at Parafield from 1 July.

Originally intended to launch with the airline’s new 737 MAX aircraft, the first flight took off from Cairns as VA77 on board the 737-700 VH-VBZ (similar aircraft pictured) at 2:51pm on Wednesday. The airline will fly daily between Cairns and Tokyo year-round.

Gissing, who is stepping down in November, has served as QantasLink CEO since April 2012, as well as Qantas Group Executive Associated Airlines & Services since 2015. He was previously a founding member of Jetstar’s executive team.

VH-8IA, nicknamed ‘Monkey Mia’, is expected to land in Brisbane this week after numerous delays, and will fly between Cairns and Tokyo (Haneda) after obtaining regulatory approval. The airline has a further seven MAX 8 and 25 MAX 10 aircraft on order.

The reshuffle will include the creation of a chief people officer role to handle both human resources and industrial relations, which are currently separate portfolios. The Flying Kangaroo is undertaking a search for the executive who will fill the position.