The airline, which launched in 2023, wants to see more regulation on the Broome–Kununurra–Darwin route as it prepares to halt services on 1 September. Nexus cited aggressive competition from rival Airnorth for its decision, and said the route has become “financially unsustainable”.

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, the airline’s CEO Bill Astling said Koala, which earlier this year fended off a winding-up application by apparent creditor Wealth Creation, is trying to fly under the radar but has backers who “understand aviation”.

As part of the Security Management Systems certification process, IATA visited the airport on-site in June, and conducted a full audit of its approach to aviation security, with Brisbane being certified at the highest level of entry.

In an event hosted by the Australian War Memorial late last month, the now-grown passengers of Australian aircraft that carried them as orphaned babies from South Vietnam in April 1975 met the pilots and crew who operated the flights for a commemoration ceremony.