A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 flew untracked for 27 minutes on its way from Sydney to Brisbane after air traffic controllers mistakenly assumed the flight was headed to Newcastle’s Williamtown Airport. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report into the September 28 2012 incident found Airservices controllers let the aircraft, VH-VUM, fly about 225nm (416.7km) in controlled
Passenger numbers at Melbourne and Sydney airports were up in February as overseas visitors headed Down Under to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Melbourne Airport chief executive Chris Woodruff said international passenger numbers rose 13.3 per cent to 669,403 in February thanks to a number of key events in the Victorian capital, including an international
An Etihad Airways Boeing 777 has been given a touch of Hollywood as part of a partnership with Universal Pictures. The airline has added a Fast & Furious decal on the fuselage of the aircraft to promote the world premiere of the latest instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise. Dubbed the Fast & Furious 777,
Earlier story has been updated to include comment from Virgin Australia Lithium ion batteries will no longer be able to be sent as cargo on board Qantas and Jetstar aircraft from April 1 after the airline group conducted a new safety assessment. The Qantas Group is the latest to issue a blanket ban on the
Virgin Australia has completed the cabin reconfiguration of its 10 New Zealand registered Boeing 737-800s and brought those aircraft onto one of the airline’s Australian air operator’s certificates (AOC). Since late January, Virgin has progressively transferred the 10 ZK-registered narrowbodies to its Australian register and given them VH- registrations as part of plans to streamline
Virgin Australia and Delta Air Lines say the immediate objective of their trans-Pacific joint-venture is to consolidate existing routes rather than add new services. Delta president Ed Bastien said his airline and Virgin have grown market share quickly since their partnership began in 2009 and the focus was on making sure that market share matured
