Jake Nelson

From 1 July, 2024, the PMC – which has been set at $60 per passenger since 2017 – will be increased to $70 despite tourism peaks warning that it could hamper the sector’s post-COVID recovery.

Costs have been awarded against Rex, which attempted to trademark “Economy X” for itself after refusing to remove the designation from seats on 737s formerly operated by Virgin. Rex leased the planes to launch its capital city routes while the rival airline was in administration during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21.

The new deal brings Virgin’s codesharing partners to six: Qatar Airways, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, ANA, and Air Canada. In a LinkedIn post, Virgin said the codeshare would allow “seamless travel” between Australia and Canada.

Qantas’s High Court appeal over the outsourcing of around 1,700 ground workers kicks off today, with the airline set to argue employees did not have the right to take protected industrial action (PIA) at the time the decision was made.

In a post on LinkedIn, Ms Hrdlicka said that husband Jason Gaudin had died after a “long, difficult and brave battle”, leaving behind her and their two sons, 19-year-old Alec and 16-year-old Josh.

The heads of the Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF), the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA), and the Australian Airports Association (AAA) have written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ahead of this week’s Budget urging the Government not to raise the PMC for five years, having received “informal advice” of plans to increase the fee.