Australian Aviation

VH-EBN (pictured) is the first of Qantas’ A330-200LR aircraft to be upgraded with Viasat-capable wi-fi antennae, and is expected to finish its three-week retrofitting this week. The remainder of Qantas’ international widebody fleet will be progressively refitted over the next couple of years.

The tracker, which shows approximate wait times for security at all three terminals, refreshes every 60 seconds and will allow passengers to plan their arrival at the airport ahead of time. It comes as the March quarter delivers a 93.7 per cent post-COVID passenger recovery compared to Q1 2019.

While all Gold Coast routes will continue to fly, some will see services as infrequently as once per week, though Albury, Darwin and Rockhampton will see no change to frequency. Bonza is currently flying its own aircraft from the Gold Coast, with both its dry-leased Flair planes otherwise occupied.

The next phase of the “Bring on Wonderful” campaign comes not long after Virgin brought all its international baggage handling in-house and rolled out its app-based baggage tracking system nationwide.

National Jet Express will operate a weekly charter flight using its Dash 8-400NG aircraft from Brisbane to Orange, in the NSW Central West, for mining and civil contractor SEE Civil. It will be the eighth destination for NJE on the east coast since it began Queensland operations last July.

Wagner Sustainable Fuels has started design and construction on a new SAF blending facility at Wellcamp and will work with Boeing to collaborate on growing SAF capabilities to meet rising local airline demand for jet fuel, which is tipped to grow by 75 per cent over the next 25 years.