The Papua New Guinea flag carrier is introducing its new A220-300 fleet on the route from 29 March, with a third weekly service also planned for the city pair. The A220s will replace the 737-800s currently used on the route, which is occasionally also operated by 767s.
B-LRJ, decked out in the 1970s-1990s livery to mark the airline’s 80th anniversary, arrived in Sydney at 7am on Wednesday, operating flight CX111 from Hong Kong.
The carrier, which placed second in the Asia-Pacific for on-time arrivals in 2025, last year introduced a new system for its regional operations, saying it involved “rethinking how schedules are built to better reflect the realities of operating at different airports across the country”.
The trial, initially slated to finish at the end of January, will instead be extended to 30 June, with the airline reportedly seeing strong bookings as well as positive feedback from both customers and staff. More than 300 pets flew in the cabin on Virgin flights over the Christmas and New Year period alone.
South Korea’s Land Ministry, in a report disclosed to the country’s National Assembly, said that the concrete mound supporting the localiser at Muan International Airport had failed to meet safety standards specifying it had to be breakable if located within 240 metres of the end of the runway.
Starting 29 March, the daily EK430/31 service will be operated by the four-class 777-300ERs, complementing the A380 service introduced last year. All five Emirates destinations in Australia – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide – have premium economy service.