Australian Aviation

Last month, 75.1 per cent of Virgin and VARA services arrived on time and 74.4 per cent departed on time, compared to 73.7 per cent and 73.1 per cent respectively for Qantas and QantasLink. Virgin also had the lowest cancellation rate of any airline at 0.6 per cent, according to BITRE data.

The airline has applied to the International Air Services Commission (IASC) to grant it 28 flights per week between Australia and Qatar using wet-leased 777-300ER aircraft from Qatar Airways, with tickets already on sale after receiving interim approval from the ACCC last year.

The changes, to be rolled out over the next 12 months, will see up to 1 million more Classic Reward seats go on sale through the Flying Kangaroo’s international partner airlines. They come after last year’s introduction of “Classic Plus” made more reward seats available.

The Canberra-based firm, which hopes to launch a space-based air traffic control system, will collaborate with institutions such as RMIT, Curtin and UNSW on the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) system.

The new premises at One Five Vaughan are more than double the size of the existing Bristol Street site at 903 square metres, and will allow Aviation Australia to train more students in aviation maintenance engineering.

Helicopter crews at LifeFlight’s Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg, Mount Isa, Toowoomba, Roma, and Brisbane bases recorded 3,534 missions during the year. It follows an all-time high for rescues in the 2023–24 financial year.