Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Qantas has posted a full-year underlying pre-tax loss of $1.86bn after border closures and travel uncertainty as the Covid-19 pandemic weighed on earnings.
The airline’s net loss after tax for the year to 30 June narrowed to $860m, compared with $1.7bn the year before.
A passenger with a disability has lodged a discrimination complaint after he was turned away at the gate when trying to board a Jetstar flight in Sydney.
Tony Jones, who suffered a spinal cord injury after falling off a balcony at the age of 18 and has since relied on a wheelchair, said he had contacted the airline to organise assistance in advance of his flight to Ballina in May last year.
Widespread flight cancellations across multiple airlines have frustrated travellers at Sydney and Melbourne airports on Monday, as the industry grapples with staffing shortages as well as a technology glitch that affected Qantas flights on Sunday.
Across Qantas, Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Rex, 23 domestic flights were cancelled out of Sydney airport on Monday.
As airport queues stretched out the door on Saturday wreaking havoc on the holiday plans of hundreds of thousands of travellers, Sydney airport said people arriving too far in advance for their flight was exacerbating problems caused by wet weather, school holidays and continuing staff shortages.
In Sydney, Guardian Australia understands there were technical issues with luggage check-in systems across several domestic airlines on Friday and Saturday, which have contributed to long queues at baggage drops.
Baggage handlers have been so short-staffed that entire flights have departed without luggage as the Easter travel crush peaked at Australian airports, with unions warning the pandemic-depleted aviation industry is now structurally incapable of coping with pre-Covid-like levels of travel demand.
While unloaded baggage and long queues affected travellers across the country on Thursday, unions have claimed that in Brisbane, so few service workers were available that female cleaners were sent in to clean male toilets while travellers were using them, and male cleaners into bathrooms with female patrons.
Long queues at Sydney airport’s domestic terminals have continued for a third day, with some passengers missing international connections, as the airport warns delays resulting from a surge in travellers and a shortfall in security staff could continue for weeks.
Chaotic scenes were reported in the departure halls as early as 4.30am on Saturday, with some frustrated travellers, many of whom heeded the pleas of airport chiefs to arrive at least two hours before their domestic flight was due to take off, claiming only one security line was operating.
Travellers are facing steep air fare hikes as bans on Russian oil cause jet fuel prices to surge, Australian aviation experts warn.
Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, has said the average fare would increase by 7% as a result of the increased crude oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but others predict the price rises could be higher.
Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, has compared Western Australia’s ongoing border closure to the totalitarian state of North Korea.
Speaking on 3AW on Friday, Joyce lamented there wasn’t a plan in WA for when the state would re-welcome domestic travellers after the initial reopening date of 5 February was scrapped indefinitely last month.
For more than a year Alice Springs airport has been
the temporary home for a host of aircraft as airlines parked parts of the fleets in the Australian desert. The dry conditions and low humidity reduce the potential for corrosion on the planes, with carriers including Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines storing planes on the site. Qantas stored part of its fleet at Victorville Airport in California's Mojave desert due to having an engineering group already based in Los Angeles two hours away. Alice Springs aerial footage courtesy of Stefan Drury, and Immanuel Debeer of Flight Hacks.
New South Wales will introduce a home quarantine “pilot” for international arrivals as part of a plan to begin opening international borders even as parts of the state returned to lockdown.
The pilot, which will be run as a partnership between the NSW government and the commonwealth, will trial a seven-day home quarantine program for about 175 fully vaccinated people.
With images of people jetting off to see loved ones overseas, the ad offers a glimpse of what many have been missing
Qantas has released a new ad that promotes getting a Covid-19 vaccine, and it tugs at the heartstrings of Australians longing to travel again.
The ad appeals to those who have been separated from loved ones overseas, with scenes of what the future might offer when vaccination rates are high enough.
Qantas will require all of its employees to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, as debate about mandatory vaccination in Australian workplaces intensifies.
By 15 November, all frontline employees, including cabin crew, pilots and airport workers, will need to be fully vaccinated. All remaining employees will have until 31 March 2022 to get vaccinated.
One passenger onboard Saturday’s repatriation flight from India tests positive for Covid in Howard Springs quarantine facility in Darwin. Follow all the latest news live
Health Minister Greg Hunt has stepped up to speak at a press conference in Somerville in Victoria, giving an update on the vaccination program.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian earlier today expressed surprise at a legal loophole that allows students to bring knives into schools.
It comes after a 14-year-old boy at Glenwood High School in Sydney’s North West faces serious charges after allegedly stabbing a 16-year-old boy with a “religious knife.”
Students should not be allowed to take knives into school under any circumstances and I think it doesn’t pass the common sense test.
Even if they’re not using weapons, others might take them from them so I was very taken back when I learnt that.
Schools in NSW are among the safest places in the community, and Glenwood High School is one of those schools.
We are currently working with the department and community representatives to discuss how best to enable students to meet aspects of their religious faith and, at the same time, to ensure our school remains a safe place.
Sydney to keep 10-visitor rule but from 24-26 December children under 12 not counted; lockdown continues in half of northern beaches, but small Christmas gatherings allowed. Follow all the latest news and updates, live
The Northern Territory has revoked its categorisation of New South Wales region Illawarra as a coronavirus hotspot.
Health minister Natasha Fyles made the announcement this afternoon following an emergency cabinet meeting, saying the decision was made because there were no cases from the northern beaches there.
This is based on the evidence that they’ve had no cases from the northern beaches coronavirus cluster. I know people are anxiously awaiting other local government areas, but the advice from our chief health officer Hugh Heggie ... is that it is safe to remove that hotspot declaration for the Illawarra Shire local government area. The others will remain in place.
Victoria is reminding people from greater Sydney, the Central Coast or the northern beaches to not attempt to enter Victoria, just in case you might have forgotten.
If you have been in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, or Sydney's Northern Beaches since Dec 11 please do not attempt to enter Victoria. Only people who have exclusively visited or travelled through other parts of NSW can apply for a Border Crossing Permit to enter Vic. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/bad8irfvqn
As soon as it’s safe to open back up to NSW, we will. For now, we’re making sure Victoria can stay safe and stay open.
City state follows Qantas in offering jaunts with no destination with ships half full and masks mandatory
Singapore is launching Covid-secure cruise holidays to nowhere, in the latest attempt to offer a long-distance travel experience with no stops.
Australian airline Qantas drew criticism from environmental groups last month after advertising a seven-hour round trip from Sydney including fly-pasts of famous sights including Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef.
Qantas is moving to recruit cabin staff from its New Zealand subsidiary to operate scheduled flights to rescue Australians trapped overseas, after it failed to get sufficient volunteers from its Australian cabin staff to operate planned flights.
Amid news that 50 Qantas and Jetstar staff have contracted coronavirus there has been growing anxiety among Qantas staff about plans to resume flights to Los Angeles, London, Auckland and Hong Kong later this week.