Australian Aviation

The Regional Airfare Zone Cap (RAZC) scheme will receive another $4 million in funding, allowing it to continue into the middle of 2026, a move which follows a successful three-year pilot program.

The Lockheed Martin company expects the Black Hawk modernisation program involving the new GE Aerospace turbine engines to boost aircraft performance, combat capabilities and range. The Australian Defence Force has purchased 40 Black Hawks to replace its now-retired fleet of 47 Airbus-built MRH-90 Taipans.

The carrier will suspend services from Sydney to Inverell and Narrabri as of 1 March 2025, citing “reduced demand”, while ramping up flights to Armidale, Coffs Harbour, and Tamworth.

Australia’s largest international gateway saw 11 million passengers in total across the three months to December 2024, up five per cent on the same period in 2023 but only 94.4 per cent of the fourth quarter of 2019.

The company, which currently operates two amphibious Cessna Caravans and a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, will add a second Beaver under the ownership of hotelier Dr Jerry Schwartz, with a fifth seaplane expected by the end of the year.

The service, to be operated with 100-seat Embraer E190 aircraft, will fly three times per week return between the two destinations starting 14 April, and is estimated to add around 30,000 seats per year on the route.