Jake Nelson

Citing “strong performance and exceptional demand”, the Flying Kangaroo will increase from the current three A330-200 flights per week to up to five in 2026–27, representing over a 50 per cent capacity increase from the current season.

The Australian Airports Association (AAA), in a pre-budget submission, said that allocating an extra five per cent of revenue per year from the $70 Passenger Movement Charge (PMC), which raises more than $1.35 billion annually, could boost border and airport processing infrastructure.

The airline, which was spun off following the Rex collapse in 2024, has commenced services to the Nifty copper mine in the Pilbara this month for Cyprium Metals following the launch of its route to Marble Bar for AIM late last year.

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.