Civil Air accused the organisation responsible for managing Australia’s skies of a “constant reliance on overtime”, which it argued had led to tiredness and work/life balance issues among employees.

Hainan Airlines has restarted twice-weekly Airbus A330 return services between Melbourne and Haikou, meaning almost all eight of the mainland Chinese carriers that operated to Melbourne before COVID-19 have come back to the airport. The flights will expand capacity between Melbourne and China by more than 1200 seats per week.

The airline pulled out of Whyalla at the start of this month amid a stoush with the local council over passing on increased costs of security screenings to airlines.

From February, the low-cost carrier will operate a return flight from Sydney or Brisbane to the South Korean capital every day as it launches a service departing Sydney on Mondays and returning on Tuesdays. The flights will add an extra 30,000 seats to the route per year.