Jake Nelson

Australia’s western gateway saw 18.026 million travellers in the 2025 calendar year, up from 16.9 million in 2024 and more than 15 million in 2023. This included all-time highs for international (5.4 million), regional (6.4 million), and interstate (6.2 million) passengers.

All three occupants of the experimental Morgan Cougar Mk 1, VH-LDV – 20-year-old pilot Luke Smith; his younger brother Ben, 16; and cousin Dusty Daly, 15 – were killed when it crashed into a paddock near West Sale Airport on 16 November 2024.

As reported in The Australian, an ACCC submission to a Senate inquiry warned that the current framework of monitoring and reporting “no longer acts as a constraint on behaviour” by airport monopolies, and suggested a commercial arbitration scheme be implemented.

Starting on 3 March, the new A220s will begin to replace the smaller Embraer E190s on Adelaide-Brisbane services, bringing in-flight wi-fi, updated cabins, and around 100,000 additional seats per year to the route.

Buses will run every 30 minutes between 4:30am to midnight Sunday to Thursday and 4:30am to 1am Friday and Saturday when the airport opens its doors later this year, with the trip between WSI and St Marys expected to take 30 minutes in “normal traffic”.

The three mid-life E190s, part of an order of 14 to replace Network’s ageing Fokker 100 fleet, will arrive from the end of this year, while the 28 A320s and A319s will be fitted with on-board Wi-Fi; the A320s will also get new seats with USB-A and C charging ports and device holders.