Australian Aviation

Stephen Forshaw, the planemaker’s chief representative for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, said the government should impose a SAF blending mandate of around 1 to 2 per cent in order to stimulate biofuel production, give Australia more sovereign fuel reserves, and cut emissions.

The “Eastern Express” service, launching on 31 August, will connect the airport with Box Hill Central via Watsonia and Doncaster, while the “Sunshine Express” starting 9 November will connect the airport directly with Brimbank for the first time.

Speaking to The Australian, Mullen said Qantas has “religiously followed through” on every one of the Saar report’s 32 recommendations after it found the airline’s leadership had been too deferential to former CEO Alan Joyce before his departure in 2023.

Defence has confirmed initial tests were recently completed on the first remotely piloted aircraft system, based at RAAF Base Tindal, and that the second and third aircraft arrived at the facility in May this year.

VH-SBV operated the final Q300 flight for QantasLink on Friday morning, QF2003 from Tamworth to Sydney, having carried more than 1.2 million passengers on 39,000 flights over its lifetime. The 50-seater turboprops joined the Qantas fleet with subsidiary Sunstate Airlines in 2000.

Domestic and international traffic both grew year on year during the three months from April to June this year, with 6.09 million domestic and 3.94 million passengers. In total, passenger numbers grew 3 per cent over the same period in 2024.