The airline will add almost 15,000 extra passenger seats to and from Darwin in the peak northern summer season from April to October this year, compared to the same period in 2024. The announcement comes as rival Qantas Group also pledges more services to Darwin.

The sold-out maiden flight, VA1681, touched down at Ayers Rock Airport at around 4pm local time on Thursday afternoon on board the 737-800 VH-YIA. Virgin is also commencing Brisbane–Uluru flights this week, with the first to take off on Friday.

The low-cost airline is set to increase frequencies and use larger aircraft on domestic and Bali routes in the NT, adding around 54,000 seats per year, or a 12 per cent increase over existing services.

The airline will fly from Melbourne and Brisbane to Uluru for the first time, commencing on 6 and 7 June 2024 respectively. Brisbane services will operate three times per week and Melbourne up to four times per week, adding more than 62,000 seats per year to the Red Centre.

It marks Australia’s final stage of reopening its borders after previously allowing residents and citizens to fly in November, before opening to students, backpackers and skilled migrants in December.

1 October Prime Minister Scott Morrison reveals he will likely not allow Queensland to receive flights from New Zealand because of the state’s insistence on hotel quarantine for domestic travel. The PM argues he can’t justify allowing trans-Tasman flights into Brisbane if it would mean precious hotel quarantine rooms were taken up by Kiwi arrivals.

Charting the locations, and airports, set to benefit from the government’s cheap ticket initiative to resuscitate domestic aviation

Key aircraft movements from across the region REPATRIATIONS An Air New Zealand repatriation flight took Tongan citizens stranded since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic home from Auckland on 4 August. The 787-9 Dreamliner, ZK-NZI msn 37965, arrived at Fua‘amotu International Airport just before 1:30pm local time. The airline said it was the first flight

The airline was revealed in October, and is slated to focus on providing leisure travellers with more low-cost options for discovering new and regional destinations, chief executive Tim Jordan says.

It comes despite rivals Qantas and Virgin beefing up their flight schedules and announcing major sales ahead of the anticipated easing border restrictions in the coming months.

Australian aviation’s new capacity wars show no sign of relenting after Qantas said it would rival Virgin on three new routes its reborn competitor only announced last week.

Virgin Australia’s first themed flight to mark Sydney’s Pride Festival launched on Friday, featuring mid-air engagement, Golden Gaytimes and rainbow flags.

The service, from Brisbane to Sydney on Friday 5 March, will be hosted by cabin crew member and “Sydney drag royalty” Penny Tration.

This is the story of how coronavirus took our industry by surprise. In part four, we report a twist in the takeover of Virgin Australia.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has predicted Virgin’s new scaled-back strategy will see his airline’s domestic market share increase.

Rex has revealed it's now in advanced discussions to launch flights to cities it says have been “abandoned” by Virgin’s decision to trim its network.

Rex released a statement on Tuesday declaring it’s “ready to service” regional cities that have been “abandoned” by Virgin’s decision to cut routes.

Virgin has introduced more generous booking flexibility than Qantas in a bid to entice travellers to fly domestically despite border uncertainty.

On Wednesday, the Virgin Group announced it was to increase domestic capacity reductions from 50 to 90 per cent, including the immediate suspension of all Tigerair services.

Aviation in Australia is still making headway Four new types to Australian skies are shown in the New Allocations this issue with arguably the most interesting being the two MilSpec Ganders VH-BKV and BXV. The US-based company designs and manufactures powered paragliders for a variety of different uses including aerial reconnaissance and surveillance for law