Jake Nelson

Regional Cities NSW (RCNSW) members spoke with ministers in the Minns Government, including Transport Minister John Graham, seeking – among other measures – a cap on regional airfares similar to schemes in states such as Western Australia.

The Striker Volterra 6×6 vehicles, ordered in 2023 by Airservices Australia, will operate out of a purpose-built Aviation Rescue Firefighting station – currently under construction – which Airservices says will allow firefighters to respond to any emergency at WSI in under three minutes.

Qantas noted that its on-time departure rate was 4.4 per cent higher than Virgin’s in a month with the end of school holidays and the NRL grand final, and said it was 1.4 per cent better than in October last year, meaning around 28,000 more customers departed on time.

Virgin Australia will ban use and charging of power banks on board from 1 December, with Qantas and Jetstar to follow as of 15 December. The airlines had initiated a review of their power bank policies following a fire on board a Virgin flight in July.

The state government will hold 22 public consultation sessions in coming weeks, as well as speak to councils, industry stakeholders, and local MPs, to ensure “a broad range of perspectives” inform the process of preparing for the next aviation services contracts.

The company will partner with Indigenous aerospace consultancy Gunggandji Aerospace and the Indigenous Defence and Infrastructure Consortium to staff a new emergency services operations centre at Adelaide Airport, which will come online in November 2026.