SEPTEMBER 21, 2026. NAOERO

Naoero Gov’t details airport firefighting flaws, safety downgrade

The Naoero Government has confirmed that defective airport firefighting equipment saw Yaren Airport’s safety category temporarily downgraded in July, causing Nauru Airlines to cancel flights across the month. Australian-donated fire trucks have since seen the airport restored to Category 7 status.

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SEPTEMBER 21, 2026. AUSTRALIA

Retail investors cold shoulder Alliance Airlines equity raise

Alliance Airlines’ retail investors have shown limited appetite for the airline’s $40 million equity raise, taking up just 9.17% of the retail entitlement. The lacklustre response follows a steady decline in Alliance’s share price and the airline's board deciding to recapitalise to improve its liquidity and balance sheet.

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Air Tetiaroa Twin Otter DHC-6-300

SEPTEMBER 18. 2026. FRENCH POLYNESIA

Air Tetiaroa adds third Twin Otter with an epic ferry flight

French Polynesian charter airline Air Tetiaroa is taking delivery of its third DHC-6-300 Twin Otter in a 18,000-kilometre ferry flight from Switzerland to Tahiti. The aircraft will improve fleet reliability and capacity as the airline explores new missions beyond its luxury resort operations.

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  • Tonga PM blames payload limits for Lulutai Airlines losses

    SEPTEMBER 18, 2026: Tonga’s Prime Minister says payload restrictions are contributing to Lulutai Airlines’ financial problems. The state owned carrier’s sole Twin Otter often cannot fill all its seats, limiting revenue potential.

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  • Air Tahiti Nui cleared to sell Tahiti Nui Helicopters

    SEPTEMBER 17, 2026: Air Tahiti Nui has received regulatory approval to sell its helicopter business, Tahiti Nui Helicopters, to French Polynesian investment company Tavake SAS. The airline expects to finalise the deal by October as it focuses on its core long-haul passenger operations.

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  • Solomon Airlines adopts more focused international schedule

    SEPTEMBER 16, 2026: Solomon Airlines had made changes to its international flight schedule as it grapples with an out-of-service A320-200, rising fuel costs and shifting travel demand.

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  • TransNusa to fly competitive Melbourne – Denpasar route

    SEPTEMBER 16, 2026: Indonesian carrier TransNusa will become the sixth airline on the Melbourne–Denpasar route when it launches four weekly A320 200 round-trips in October. The new service will add more than 70,000 annual seats to one of Australia’s busiest and most fiercely contested international routes.

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Alliance Airlines E190-100 at Darwin Airport

September 2026 News Briefs

SEPTEMBER 21, 2026: The Australian Government has updated its 15-year-old air services agreement with Indonesia. Among other changes, an extra 5,000 seats per week will be allocated to carriers from both countries and additional destinations in Indonesia and Australia (including Western Sydney Airport) will be included in the list of airports each country’s airlines can fly to and from.

Read the news release here.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2026: Heli Tours Fiji, also known as Fly Fiji, has acquired a twin-engine AS350 helicopter. The aircraft, DQ-NOA, will be used to support Fiji's growing high-end tourism market.

Read the news report here.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2026: Virgin Australia says it will operate an average of 420 daily flights, nearly 50 more than the regular daily average, between mid September and mid-October, a period that includes several major sporting events and school holidays in many states. More than 500 daily flights are scheduled on the busiest days around the AFL Grand Final weekend between September 24 – 27.

Read the news release here.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2026: Alliance Aviation Services Limited, trading as Alliance Airlines, has successfully completed its retail and institutional capital raising. Yesterday, the company announced the completion of the retail entitlement component of the capital raising, which raised around AUD7 million. This follows the completion of the institutional component, which raised approximately AUD33 million.

Read the stock exchange filing here.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2026: The Australian Government’s Pacific Partnerships for Aviation (P4A) program has donated three Ground Power Units (GPUs) and one Air Starter Unit (ASU) to Vanuatu. They will assist Vanuatu Terminal Services, reduce flight delays, improve aircraft turnaround and servicing capacity, and lower fuel consumption.

Read the news release here.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2026: Brisbane Airport (BNE) is opening a new 12-lane departures passport control area on level 4 of the international terminal on September 19. For the first time, check in, security screening and passport control will all be located on a single level.

Read the news release here.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2026: Qantas has asked Australia’s International Air Services Commission to allocate it an additional 168 seats per week in each direction for five years on the Australia – Palau country pair. The allocation will underpin Qantas’s recently announced second weekly round-trip between Brisbane (BNE) and Koror (ROR).

Read the application letter here.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2026: A total of 793,756 people (excluding transits) passed Adelaide Airport in July 2026, a 3% increase on the previous year. When including the 12,730 passengers transiting through the airport while travelling between Auckland and Doha, there were 806,486 passengers in July, a 4.7% increase on the previous year.

Read the news release here.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2026: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released its latest Domestic Airline Competition in Australia report. It reveals, among other things, that both the Qantas Group and Virgin Australia continued to generate substantial earnings despite significantly higher fuel costs.

Read the news release here.

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2026. AUSTRALIA

Lindsay Fox takes delivery of Australia’s first Airbus H160

Linfox founder Lindsay Fox has taken delivery of Australia’s first Airbus H160 helicopter. Registered as VH-FOX, the eight passenger aircraft joins Fox’s extensive aviation interests, which include Avalon and Essendon Airports, a Bombardier business jet. and three AW139 helicopters.

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Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean

SEPTEMBER 14, 2026. MIDWAY ATOLL

Boeing warns of impact if Midway Atoll loses ETOPS status

Boeing has joined airlines calling on the US to retain Midway Atoll as an ETOPS alternate airport, warning its loss would create a “hole” in trans-Pacific diversion coverage. The FAA is considering whether to spend more than USD100 million to keep the remote airfield operational.

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September 2026 Aircraft Movements

SEPTEMBER 21, 2026: Jetstar is ferrying in its sixth A320-200N. The aircraft, VH-A5F (msn 13478), departed Toulouse (TLS) and is due to land at Melbourne (MEL) on September 22 after travelling via Istanbul (IST), Bengaluru (BLR), and Perth (PER).

SEPTEMBER 21, 2026: ASL Airlines Australia has taken delivery of a B737 800BCF. The aircraft, VH-AZ4 (msn 32686), arrived in Brisbane (BNE) on September 19 after flying in from Shannon (SNN) via Sofia (SOF), Delhi (DEL), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), and Lombok (LOK). The freighter was sourced from ASL Airlines Ireland and was formerly registered as EI-HRB.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2026: ASL Airlines Australia has ferried a B737-800F to Brisbane (BNE). The aircraft, 2-HVUO (msn 36602), departed Jinan (TNA) for Brisbane via Jakarta (CGK) on September 16, arriving in Brisbane the following day.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2026: Alliance Airlines disposed of another F100. The aircraft, VH-XWT (msn 11338), departed Perth (PER) for Bergen op Zoom (WOE) and its new owner on September 13. Alliance had listed VH-XWT for sale after withdrawing it from revenue service in June.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026: Cargo carrier Asia Pacific Airlines is taking on another B757-200F. The aircraft, N286GB (msn 617), leased from Petrus Aviation, ferried to Honolulu (HNL) from Roswell (ROW) on September 6. The jet becomes Asia Pacific Airlines’ seventh B757-200F, although several are not in service.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2026: National Jet Express is taking delivery of its ninth E190-100. The aircraft, N110BZ (msn 19000075), departed Miami (OPF) on September 6 bound for Perth (PER). The Embraer, obtained on leased from TrueNoord, and ferried to Australia by AF Aviation, will be re-registered as VH-8EC.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2026: Qantas has retired an A330-200. The 23.6-year-old aircraft, VH-EBC (msn 506), operated its final revenue flight on September 5 before ferrying to Melbourne (MEL) the following day where it will be stripped internally. After that, the plane will ferry to Alice Springs (ASP) where it will be put into storage and parted-out.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2026: The Qantas Group is ferrying its fifteenth A220-300 to Australia. VH-X4O (msm 55470) has left Montreal (YMX) for Vancouver (YVR) and will continue on to Australia via Honolulu (HNL) and Nadi (NAN), arriving at Canberra on September 6 (local time). The aircraft will be operated by wholly owned Qantas subsidiary National Jet Systems and is painted in QantasLink livery.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2026: The Qantas Group is readying to ferry an E190-100 to Australia. At the time of publication, VH-E9A (msm 19000250) remains at Norwich (NWI) but is expected to depart for Perth (PER) within days. The aircraft will be operated by wholly owned Qantas subsidiary Network Aviation and is painted in QantasLink livery.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2026: Virgin Australia has commenced ferrying its twenty-fifth B737-8 to Australia. VH-8VJ (msn 67043) departed Melbourne (MLB) for Brisbane (BNE) on August 31, operating via Ontario (ONT) and Kailua-Kona (KOA). It is due to land in Brisbane early afternoon (local time) on September 3.

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2026. PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Air Niugini CEO warns against unfettered competition

Air Niugini CEO Alan Milne says the carrier is not robust enough to withstand unfettered competition, warning larger airlines with deeper pockets could force it off routes. He says competition is welcome but must be structured to protect the state-owned airline’s survival.

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September 2026 Route Briefs

SEPTEMBER 18 2026: VietJet Air will continue to operate five weekly round trips on the Ho Chi Minh (SGN) – Melbourne (MEL) city-pair over the upcoming 2026/27 Southern Summer season, rather than seven weekly round trips as previously planned.

SEPTEMBER 17 2026: Alaska Airlines has reduced its thrice-weekly A330 200-operated Honolulu (HNL) – Pago Pago (PPG) round-trips to twice-weekly, effective September 7, 2026.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2026: Singapore Airlines has extended its seasonal A380 800 operations on the Singapore (SIN) – Auckland (AKL) city-pair through to September 24, 2027.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2026: FlyPelican is ending is twice-weekly BAe Jetstream 32- operated Sydney (SYD) – Newcastle/Williamtown (NTL) round trips on October 30, 2026.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2026: Philippine Airlines will operate six Cebu (CEB) – Guam (GUM) round-trips between December 17, 2026, and January 7, 2027,  in addition to its regular daily flights between Guam and Manila (MNL).

SEPTEMBER 11, 2026: Shenzhen Airlines will commence A330-300 operated Shenzhen (SZX) – Sydney (SYD) round-trips on December 14, 2026. The flights will operate four times per week.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2026: Nauru Airlines will resume weekly B737-300-operated flights to Pohnpei (PNI) on October 2 as part of a Yaren (INU) – Tarawa (TRW) – Majuro (MAJ) – Pohnpei rotation after suspending flights to the Micronesian island in early July.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2026: Korean Air will swap the B787-10 currently operating its daily Seoul (ICN) – Auckland (AKL) round-trips for an A350-900, effective December 17.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2026: Cathay Pacific will deploy a B777-300ER rather than an A350-900 on one (CX171/140) of its two daily Hong Kong (HKG) – Perth (PER) round-trips, effective October 25, 2026.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2026: Batik Air Malaysia will reduce its A330-300-operated Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Sydney (SYD) round trips from daily flights to five per week between October 25 – December 1, 2026.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026: Air Vanuatu will resume weekly flights between Port Vila (VLI) and Ipota (IPA) via Tanna (TAH) on September 6, 2026, using DHC-6-300 aircraft. The airline last flew to Ipota in 2024.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026: Qantas will double its B737-800-operated services between Brisbane (BNE) and Koror (ROR) to two weekly round-trips between December 7, 2026 and March 27, 2027, after signing a new agreement with the Australian Government to keep flying to Palau.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026: GAM Group has commenced daily C208B freighter round-trips between Emerald (EMD) and Mount Isa (ISA).

SEPTEMBER 2, 2026: Jetstar’s thrice weekly seasonal A320-200-operated Hobart (HBA) – Newcastle/Williamtown (NTL) round-trips will start on October 27, 2026, and run through April 24, 2027, providing 40% more seats compared to the 2025/26 season.

SEPTEMBER 2, 2026: Philippine Airlines will increase its five weekly A330-300 operated Manila (MNL) –
Melbourne (MEL) round-trips to daily services, effective November 19.

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King Air 260C Exterior Photo

SEPTEMBER 11, 2026. AUSTRALIA

RFDS Queensland Section to acquire six new King Air 260Cs

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section) will acquire six new King Air 260Cs from Textron Aviation, with the first due in 2028. The aircraft will replace older King Air B200s and be fitted with bespoke aeromedical systems for operations across Queensland.

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SEPTEMBER 10, 2026. AUSTRALIA

High visa costs help kibosh Air India flights to WSI

High visa costs and long processing times are among the factors discouraging Air India from expanding flights to Australia, including the soon-to-open Western Sydney Airport. But Fiji Airways and Egyptair are taking a more bullish approach, announcing new services to Sydney that will start in 2027.

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