Vornik, who joined the C-UAS company in 2015, said “it has been an experience of a lifetime to serve as DroneShield’s CEO”. He will continue with the company for the next three months as an adviser to support the transition.

VH-VKK, which returned to Melbourne earlier this week, took off for Phuket at 3:20pm on Tuesday afternoon for its inaugural commercial flight post-overhaul. All 11 Jetstar Dreamliners are slated for the refit, which includes new seating, in-flight Wi-Fi, and crew rest areas with six bunks.

Working in a temporary space, the staff members are the first of a planned 400 employees at Qantas’ first innovation centre outside of Sydney, and will “focus on developing and improving the airline’s digital products, including the Qantas App”, as well as front-line tools for Qantas workers.

Speaking to Australian Aviation at a press event in Kuala Lumpur, Bryan Foong, CEO of airline business at Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), said the carrier – which currently has 10 A330-900s in its fleet – is aiming to operate 20 of the next-generation aircraft by 2028.