Australian Aviation

It came alongside reports that all 379 passengers and crew travelling on the next-generation Airbus survived, although five crew on a smaller Dash 8 the widebody struck died.

However, an ATSB interim report into the incident concluded that the low concentrations of the drug suggested it would unlikely to have been an “impairment of his psychomotor skills”.

The funding boost will grow overall capacity to 13 bays and means the Hunter Valley could potentially service a global F-35 fleet that’s expected to reach more than 3,000 aircraft.

VH-EBE, named Kangaroo Valley, flew its last commercial passenger flight in February this year before heading to Dresden in Germany for its upgrade to become a P2F (passenger to freighter).

CEO Tim Jordan said the firm made the “difficult decision” – days before it was due to start – because launching operations next month would put a “strain on our current capacity”.

The airline is the first in Australia to operate so-called “point-to-point” leisure services that skip out major cities and allow consumers to fly directly from holiday destination to holiday destination.