Australian Aviation

It follows a similar situation in Sydney which led to its CEO telling big airlines to use their take-off slots or gift them to smaller carriers to increase competition.

The 10th edition of the 14-day ‘war game’ is primarily intended to improve interoperability between the Australian and US militaries, and this year will be held primarily in Queensland.

New BITRE data released by the Department of Transport presents fresh evidence that major airlines are taking advantage of the rules around take-off slots to punish smaller rivals.

The AIPA is arguing that Qantas second officers who are passed over for the A380 in favour of pilots from outside the company should be compensated, while Qantas says the pilots’ union has “unreasonably” withheld its agreement to sourcing external A380 pilots.

Adelaide will be the first airport outside of Sydney and Melbourne to be a permanent base for the NEOs, which will service domestic routes, as well as flights to Bali currently served by A320s. The NEOs will operate up to two direct Denpasar flights per day starting on Friday.

Geoff Culbert has pointed the finger squarely at airlines for Sydney’s lagging domestic recovery, which saw passenger numbers last month grow just 1.2 per cent year-on-year to 1.90 million travellers.