The two-year-old A380, A6-EVS, departed the NSW capital at 10:01 am as flight EK412 and touched down on the South Island at 2:39 pm. It will later continue on to Dubai.
The new A330 service operates four times a week and now travels to the closer Haneda Airport rather than its pre-COVID destination of Narita.
A safety investigation has revealed it took air traffic control 15 minutes to provide a forecast for an alternate airport to land at – a crucial delay that made a diversion impossible.
Starting on 11 May, the Wintjiri Wiru experience – designed by media architecture studio RAMUS – will use more than 1,000 drones to form images in the night sky of the Mala ancestral story, which sits between Kaltukatjara (Docker River) and Uluru.
The E22 Spark aircraft, built by Adelaide-based Bader Aero, is a two-seater with 180m takeoff, a max range of 300+ kilometres, up to 90-minute flight time, and a cruising speed of 110-130 knots.
The arrangement between the two airlines was first agreed upon in 2013, but was due to expire on 31 March 2023. The pair are ultimately seeking to extend it for another five years.