Australian Aviation

The service will operate four times per week on a 377-seat A330-300, including 12 business class and 365 economy seats. Batik Air, part of the Lion Air group, already operates a regular service from Melbourne to Denpasar.

Female Year 7 and 8 students from the South East Queensland region will be shown around Virgin’s HQ, maintenance hangar, and training centre including flight simulators. Dubbed the Future Aviators Program, the inaugural event was planned for 7 March but was pushed back due to Cyclone Alfred.

Representatives from Qantas Group and Virgin Australia appeared before the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee on Monday, with both airlines saying that EU and Canada-style customer compensation schemes increase airfares and do not lead to better outcomes.

The new order will bring the total AW139 fleet between LifeFlight and its joint-venture partner StarFlight to 20 by the end of 2027, which the aeromedical organisation says will enhance its capability for EMS, search and rescue, and law enforcement missions.

The agreements with labour hire firms Qantas Domestic, Maurice Alexander Management (MAM), and Altara will see their domestic cabin crews receive the same wages as directly-employed Qantas cabin crew, under the Albanese government’s Same Job, Same Pay legislation.

The retrofitted planes, featuring the airline’s new “Aria Suite” business class product, have been introduced on five selected flights per week to Australia as their second destination outside of Hong Kong, following their debut on Hong Kong-London in January.