Jake Nelson

The US$8.3 billion deal, announced last year, brings Spirit back under Boeing’s control, and includes manufacturing of 737 fuselages; major structures for the 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner programs; and commercially-procured P-8 and KC-46 fuselages.

The low-cost carrier will fly daily A320 services from Melbourne to Denpasar starting 21 March, adding around 130,000 seats per year, and offering promotional fares to entice new passengers on the popular route.

The carrier, which axed the route in early 2023, will recommence direct services between Sydney and Darwin on 22 June next year, operating until 10 January 2027, with plans to restart again in March 2027. It will fly up to seven times per week return during peak periods.

VH-OQC “Paul McGinness”, which was mothballed in 2020 along with the rest of Qantas’ A380 fleet during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, touched down in Sydney at 8:30am on Friday, having been in Abu Dhabi undergoing maintenance and refurbishments since 2021.

Flight DL11 from LAX touched down at 7:30am on Friday aboard N527DN, the first A350-900 operated non-stop by a major American airline to Melbourne. Flights will operate three times per week on the 275-seater A350 fleet.

Instructors at eight sites across Queensland, NSW, and Victoria took industrial action on Friday, saying negotiations for Experience Co’s first-ever enterprise agreement have stalled for nearly 10 months, and that the company would “trade away the industry’s reputation for profit”.