Australian Aviation

VH-OGA, named Great Ocean Road, will first travel to Bangkok in what will be the longest flight of the type operated by a commercial airline, before carrying on to the NSW capital. It’s expected to arrive in Australia on Wednesday morning shortly after 10am.

The Victorian state government said Merren McArthur would be tasked with creating a “collaborative and constructive environment” among members of the newly established steering committee, which will include senior figures from the airport, state and federal governments.

In a note to staff, the airline’s domestic chief executive, Markus Svensson, said the midlife aircraft would provide “bridging capacity” and receive new interiors to make them appear as-new to customers.

From October, the Chilean carrier will axe the Sydney–Auckland fifth-freedom leg of its Sydney–Santiago service, leaving the non-stop Sydney–Santiago and Auckland–Santiago services in place. The frequency of Auckland–Santiago flights will also drop to four per week.

Thirty-seven pilots represented teams from the ADF, UK, Singapore and the US in qualifying heats that culminated in an elimination final series.

The inaugural flight VA21 left for Doha just after 3:45pm Perth time on Thursday aboard the wet-leased Qatar Airways 777-300ER A7-BEL. The launch follows Sydney and Brisbane earlier this month, with Melbourne flights to commence in December.