Jake Nelson

The first of the upgraded helicopters, VH-LF3, touched down in Mount Isa this week, with LifeFlight chief executive Ashley van de Velde saying the AW139 is the perfect search and rescue aircraft to cover the long distances in the region.

Jetstar will ramp up its recently-launched Newcastle–Bali service to four per week from 29 March, adding 24,000 seats per year, and will introduce another leg connecting through to Singapore. It comes a week after the low-cost carrier announced a similar route from the Sunshine Coast.

Speaking at The Australian Financial Review Infrastructure Summit in Sydney, Minister Catherine King said the Sydney to Newcastle high-speed rail line – which the government hopes will run to WSI by 2042 – will offer significant benefits for travellers.

The helicopter, N166DP, hauled 24 basalt boulders weighing a total of roughly 40 tonnes to shore up the 100-year-old Lavertys Gap Weir on Wilsons Creek near Mullumbimby, which was damaged in the 2022 floods and by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred earlier this year.

A Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330-300, 9M-MTL, passed just seven metres over the top of work vehicles at the end of Melbourne’s runway 34 on the night of 7 September 2023, followed by a Bamboo Airways 787-9, VN-A819, passing less than five metres overhead 11 days later.

Flight CX173 from Hong Kong touched down in Adelaide shortly before 10:20am on Wednesday aboard the A350-900 B-LRJ, returning as CX174 two hours later. The non-stop flights will operate three times per week until 27 March 2026.