Qantas to fly direct to the mining boom

Qantas will start direct services from Melbourne and Sydney to the resources hub of Karratha in Western Australia’s Pilbara region from May.

Qantas says the additional capacity will result in 51 weekly services from four Australian capital cities including Perth.
Qantas has been operating direct Brisbane-to-Karratha services since November 2007.
The increase in flight services is a further [...]

After Qantas, Virgin Shares Cautious Earnings Outlook

Virgin Blue, the second largest Australian airline, today echoed the cautious outlook shared by its much larger rival Qantas, after also posting about 80% of its expecting earnings of the complete year in a return to profits during the first half of the company’s financial year.

The airline group also revealed plans to expand its domestic [...]

Qantas Suspends Dividend as Profit Falls 72%

SYDNEY—Qantas Airways Ltd.’s fiscal first-half net profit shrank by 72% from a year earlier and it said that it won’t pay a dividend given a challenging environment, disappointing investors and sending its shares down 8.1%.
Australia’s top carrier by traffic also unveiled details of a US$360 million reconfiguration of its aircraft cabins, citing an industry shift [...]

Air NZ hails success of charter flights to Japan

Air New Zealand Ltd said charter flights between Japan and Auckland during the summer were popular, with three charters in January sold out and the fourth on December 28 achieving an 80 percent load factor.
Three services using 767-300 aircraft, operated from Nagoya with the fourth from Okinawa, resulted in almost 900 additional Japanese tourists visiting [...]

Australia’s Aboriginal intervention racist, UN says

An Australian government programme that imposes restrictions on Aboriginies in an attempt to stamp out sexual abuse of children in remote outback towns has been branded racist and ineffective by the United Nations.
n an advance copy of a report to be released next week, James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on indigenous human rights, expressed [...]

Australia & New Zealand: Eurovision 2010 down under

Good news for Eurovision Song Contest fans in Australia and New Zealand, as SBS in Australia and Triangle/Stratos tv in New Zealand respectively, have both confirmed that they will be airing both Eurovision Song Contest semi finals and the grand final.
SBS, the Australian broadcaster mainly targeted to ethnic groups in Australia, will be airing [...]

Jetstar’s Vietnam woes fail to stop expansion plans

Jetstar’s troubles in Vietnam has not held back its expansion plans of flights to the country.
While the carrier’s Vietnam joint venture, Jetstar Pacific, faces a Vietnamese government investigation into fuel hedging losses, including maintaining a ban on two Australian senior managers from leaving the country, the no-frills airline has announced it is almost doubling the [...]

Qantas results fall short of expectations, shares fall

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Qantas Airways Ltd. on Thursday posted results for the half-year ended in December that fell short of expectations, helping send the Australian air carrier’s shares lower.

Qantas Suspends Dividend as Profit Falls 72%

SYDNEY—Qantas Airways Ltd.’s fiscal first-half net profit shrank by 72% from a year earlier and it said that it won’t pay a dividend given a challenging environment, disappointing investors and sending its shares down 8.1%.

Australia’s top carrier by traffic also unveiled details of a US$360 million reconfiguration of its aircraft cabins, citing an industry shift [...]

Airline Qantas to title sponsor Australian GP

Qantas has been named as the new title sponsor for the Australian Grand Prix.

In the wake of ING’s departure from the sport, it was feared that the Melbourne race would not locate a funding replacement for the Dutch bank.
The 2009 race at Albert Park recorded a controversial $40m loss.
“We greatly value the involvement of all [...]