The airline’s 737 MAX, VH-UIK, named Bazza, departed at 9:55 am as flight AB569 and landed at 1:06 pm. Bonza also confirmed flights from its second base of Melbourne would go on sale later this week.
The high ‘seat utilisation’ is due to pent-up demand from passengers to travel post-COVID, combined with international airlines offering far fewer seats for sale now compared to 2019.
The investment will include creating a new flagship space in London’s Heathrow to coincide with the launch of Project Sunrise.
The new “economy stretch” option will be available on its 777-300s flying from Auckland to Los Angeles from 27 February.
It’s the second of the Flying Kangaroos' widebodies that will be transformed into an A330P2F (passenger to freighter), with the first set to join the dedicated Australia Post freight fleet later this year.
The aircraft, VH-ZNJ, was flying from Santiago to Sydney but had to divert to the northern NSW city to avoid a storm. Newcastle Airport is currently unable to accommodate longer-haul international arrivals.