The Flying Kangaroo is suing Luke Fogarty, its former head of E190 commercial, operations and performance, who left the airline for a senior flight operations role with Virgin in September and is due to start next year following the expiration of a non-compete agreement.

VH-A5A, slated for delivery by the end of the year, was snapped in testing by a planespotter in Europe this week under the test registration F-WWTR. Jetstar currently has 13 A320neos on order up to the 2029 financial year.

With EY Australia still grappling with the recapitalisation and sale of assets, Justice James Stevenson of the NSW Supreme Court was reluctant to allow plaintiff Jet Midwest to proceed with a claim for damages upwards of $US7.2 million ($11 million).

Reporting in the Newcastle Herald this week claimed that cost overruns on the new international terminal, as well as a drop in passenger volumes and unbudgeted costs for the Astra Aerolab defence and aerospace precinct, have left the airport short of cash.