Jake Nelson

N845MD, a brand-new aircraft delivered in February this year, operated the inaugural flight AA7 to Brisbane on 25 October, returning to Dallas as AA8 on Tuesday. Flights will initially operate six times per week, increasing to daily from December this year to March 2026.

VH-E2A Coral Bay, the first of eight E190-E2s for Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA), operated its first commercial flight, VA9217, on Monday, taking off from Perth at 7:15am and arriving in Boolgeeda at 9:05am.

The federal government has released the terms of reference for the review, which was flagged by Transport Minister Catherine King earlier this year and will examine the key factors driving high costs on regional routes.

Flight NZ261 landed in Adelaide at 9:30pm on Tuesday aboard the A320neo ZK-NHB, taking off again for Christchurch shortly after 7:15am on Wednesday. Flights will operate twice weekly on Mondays and Fridays until 27 March 2026, adding around 15,000 seats on the route.

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) 737 Large Air Tanker N138CG “Marie Bashir” touched down on the runway shortly after 8:30am on Tuesday following a short flight from nearby RAAF Base Richmond to take part in a multi-agency, full-scale aerodrome emergency exercise.

Despite its new focus on ACMI services, the airline says its regular passenger transport flights are here to stay, having recently taken over the Lord Howe Island route from QantasLink.