Australian Aviation News May 2024

I will be updating this page throughout May 2024 with news about the Australian Aviation Industry. New airlines, new flights, Airline sales, all things Aviation.

Qantas To End Flights From Sydney to Shanghai

14th May 2024 – Qantas will axe flights between Sydney and Shanghai since their planes have been operating at half full. They had been flying 5 times per week. Flights will end from 28th July 2024.

This will allow Qantas to increase flights to other popular destiantions like Singapore and Bengaluru in India.

See more details of the flight changes at Qantas.

Qantas Resume Flights from Brisbane to Manila

14th May 2024 – Qantas has an announced they will resume flights from Brisbane airport to Manila, a route they have not flown for more than 10 years. They will begin flights in 28th October 2024, using their Airbus A330-200s.

Check out current prices on the Qantas Website.

Air Vanuatu Cancels Flights to Australia

9th May 2024 – Air Vanuatu may be on the brink of collapse with the first signs being the airline cancelling all flights in and out of Australia on Thursday 9th May 2024. Friday 10th May 2024 it is official the airline has gone into liquidation, impacting all flights to Australia, New Zealand and Noumea. Another one bites the dust!

New International Route for Brisbane Airport

9th May 2024 – Brisbane Airport will be adding a new International destination to its flight routes. From 21st May 2024, Nauru Airline will fly from Brisbane to Nauru. Nauru is a tiny island country in Micronesia, 4 hours 35 minutes flight time from Brisbane. Nauru is increasly popular as a destination for scuba diving as it has many coral reefs and white-sand beaches fringed with palm trees. Nauru Airline will be using their Boeing B737-300 aircraft for this flight. Initially they will have 2 flights per week, on Thursdays and Sundays. Economy tickets will start from around A$928 one way.

Check out flights on the Nauru Airline website.

Qantas Fined for selling tickets for cancelled flights

7th May 2024 – Qantas has been fined $100 Million dollars for selling tickets to flights that had already been cancelled, The ACCC has taken several months to make the decision. As well as the huge fine, Qantas are also being forced to compensate customers who bought the tickets, even if they were refunded. This may total another $20 Million. They will pay $225 for domestic flights and $450 for international flights. The ACCC decided Qantas has mislead customers by selling tickets to flights they knew had aleady been cancelled.

Qantas App Issues

2nd May 2024 – The Qantas App had some issues on Wednesday 1st May 2024, with customers seeing other customers details. A tech issue caused by a change to the application, allowed customers to view other customers frequent flyer points, status credits, flights booked and current flight boarding passes. The issue was fixed within a short period and Qantas technology team and investigation to ensure no further breaches in data leaks.

Bonza Airline Grounded

1st May 2024 – Bonza only started flying in Australia in January 2023. With no notice, Bonza cancelled all flights. There was no communication to customers, with many finding out their flight had been cancelled when they arrived at the airport.

On 2nd May 2024, Bonza airline announced that there may be a possibility that they could resume flights by next Wednesday, 8th May 2024. They are still working through the potential of them continuing buiness.

Bonza were operating 4 B737-8 200s. At early stage it seems Bonza’s parent company 777 in Miami were in financial difficult and seems were not paying the lease on the aircraft. The leasing company came in early morning and repossed all 4 aircraft. It is unclear if customers will get any refunds. All cusmtomers will be added to list of creditors. Well keep this story updated!