Australian Aviation

Chris Mills, who led the company that owns and operates Gold Coast, Townsville, Mount Isa and Longreach Airports from 2015 to 2022, will take over as head of Sunshine Coast Airport, as well as Coffs Harbour Airport in NSW, on 20 November.

Around 700 people have been assisted to leave Israel on RAAF and chartered flights since the conflict broke out, just under 600 of whom are Australians. Defence Minister Richard Marles has said the government is not planning more flights out of Tel Aviv at this stage.

Flight EK2616 will leave Dubai on Thursday at 9:40am local time, arriving in Sydney at 6:05am local time the following day. Emirates will use an A380 for the flight, which comes after two RAAF flights and one private charter flight ferried Australians out of Tel Aviv on Sunday evening.

Speaking in the regional NSW seat of Eden-Monaro on Monday, Minister King branded the inquiry a “ridiculous farce”, seeming to rule out revisiting the decision and pointing out that the previous Coalition government had also not increased Qatar’s access.

The Brisbane Airport Curfew and Demand Management Bill 2023, introduced as a private member’s bill by Greens transport spokesperson Elizabeth Watson-Brown, has not won the backing of the government or of Transport Minister Catherine King, the Greens said.

Dr Kille, an associate professor, program director and aviation discipline lead at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), has previously worked as a professional pilot and flight instructor as well as at ICAO.