According to ATSB director of transport safety Dr Stuart Godley, while both pilots had made the required mandatory calls on the local common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), the Cherokee’s pilot had mistakenly called Mildura’s runway 36 “runway 35”.

The airline will operate four return A330-200 services per week starting 28 October, bringing an estimated 170,000 additional inbound seats to Queensland over three years. It will mark the first time Qantas has flown between Brisbane and Manila in more than a decade.

Everybody on board, including two passengers in their 60s, seemingly escaped without injuries after an incident with the landing gear was identified shortly after take-off at 8:30am.

A spokesperson for Virgin confirmed to Australian Aviation that the carrier will fly five times per week from Brisbane to Port Vila, up from twice per week, for the remainder of May and June at the request of the Australian government. Virgin is the only other airline to fly from Australia to Vanuatu.