Jake Nelson

In an industry briefing column, chief executive Pip Spence said it would be “remiss of [her] not to reiterate the need for everyone to play a role in keeping aviation safe” following events over recent months that “led to a focus on helicopters in the Northern Territory”.

The early-morning flight QF1972 to Canberra, on board wet-leased Alliance E190 VH-UZI, made a PAN call after the pilots detected smoke in the flight deck, and turned back to Adelaide. The flight, which had several Liberal politicians on board, landed safely at around 6:20am.

The second meeting of creditors on Tuesday greenlit the Deed of Company Arrangement proposed by Air T, encompassing Rex’s regional Saab 340 operations as well as a number of the group’s subsidiaries.

The airport saw 17.5 million passengers in the 2024–25 financial year, an 8.5 per cent increase from 16.1 million in 2023–24. More than half of this growth came from international passengers, with total revenue also increasing 14.4 per cent to $751.8 million.

The FIFO, wet lease and charter operator in earnings guidance this month said it expected its EBITDA for the year ending 30 June 2026 to be “materially lower than analyst consensus estimates”, at around $190–$210 million.

One thousand new seats will be added across the airport’s international and domestic terminals, alongside runway lighting upgrades, new security equipment, CCTV, new control tower water connections, and an extra 500 parking spaces.