Australian Aviation

Flight VA1528 from Sydney landed safely in Hobart aboard VH-YFY after the fire broke out in an overhead locker on descent, with the cause believed to be a portable power bank in a passenger’s bag. The airline says it is reviewing the carriage and use of power banks on board.

Andrew Warrender believes airline partnerships play a crucial role in shaping Australia’s domestic aviation landscape.

The Flying Kangaroo bounded past its main domestic rival in June according to the latest BITRE data, with 81.2 per cent of QF-designated services (Qantas and QantasLink) departing on time and 80.4 per cent arriving on time, compared to 78.7 per cent and 78.0 per cent of VA services respectively.

Over the coming weeks, testing will ramp up until the Lockheed Martin vehicle is travelling at a speed just short of the point where it will take off. Once complete, the X-59 will then progress to a first test flight.

In a live exercise involving the MQ-20 Avenger unmanned aircraft, the demonstration showcased real-time sensor fusion, distributed command and control (C2), and autonomous kill chain execution, including an autonomous beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) air-to-air engagement.

The government-owned company also said it would follow Transport Minister Catherine King’s request to make reciprocal runway operations the default operating mode at night – a move that means aircraft will arrive and depart from the same direction to minimise noise.