Jake Nelson

Figures released by Airport Coordination Limited Asia Pacific, which took over Sydney slot management last year, showed that while slot utilisation averages over 95 per cent from 7am to 10am and 6pm to 7pm on weekdays, it drops to around 67 per cent on average outside those times.

From July, the Indonesian carrier will increase A320 services on the Perth–Denpasar route from 17 to 21 per week. It comes just under a year after the initial launch of TransNusa in Australia in March 2025, on a route that has already seen an expansion to more than two daily services.

Speaking on the investigation into the 29 January 2025 disaster, which killed all 67 people on an American Airlines CRJ700 and a US Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the NTSB, said “system flaws” aligned to cause the crash.

VH-VKK departed Melbourne this week for the cabin update, which will see new seating for both business and economy passengers, on-board Wi-Fi, and lie-flat crew rest bunks. The first aircraft is expected to be completed by the end of March, with all 11 787-8s to be progressively refreshed.

The low-cost carrier currently flies four times per week between Adelaide and Denpasar using its 180-seat A320-200 aircraft, and the daily services will “create more than 56,000 seats per year” through Adelaide. Bali is Adelaide’s largest and fastest-growing international destination.

The airline will begin seasonal 737-800 flights between the nation’s capital and Bali from 22 June, with the service planned to run between April and January in future. Flights will operate three times per week, adding more than 40,000 seats each year on the route.