MARCH 10, 2026. AUSTRALIA

Northern Star’s Jundee Airport now handling E190 aircraft

Northern Star Resources has completed an upgrade of the airport that services its Jundee mine, located about 800 kilometres north-east of Perth. As a result, the 2,095-metre asphalt runway is now handling E190 aircraft that ferry miners to and from Perth.

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MARCH 9, 2026. AUSTRALIA

Tim Jordan talks about gov’t response to Bonza’s collapse

The CEO of defunct Australian low-cost carrier Bonza has spoken about the Australian Government’s response to his airline’s collapse and the different response when Regional Express filed for voluntary administration three months later.

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MARCH 9, 2026, AUSTRALIA

AirAsia axes Darwin flights, adds new Melbourne route

AirAsia is making changes to its Australian flights that it says demonstrates its commitment to the market. Among the changes are a new Denpasar  – Melbourne service and the axing of short-lived flights to Darwin from Denpasar and Kuala Lumpur.

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Aero South Pacific Airport Briefs available for download

Aero South Pacific has released its first airport briefs covering Australia’s top 20 passenger airports. The briefs, which you can download for free, provide an informative snapshot of scheduled regular passenger transport and passenger charter activity at Australia’s busiest airports.

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  • USTDA steps in to help fund Palau Airport improvements

    MARCH 6, 2026: The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded an undisclosed amount of technical assistance funding to the Palau National Aviation Administration to help improve Palau’s aviation capacity and safety.

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  • Hoskins airport upgrade sees runway length temporarily cut

    MARCH 5, 2026: Papua New Guinea’s National Airport Corporation has reduced the operational length of Hoskins Airport (HKN) to 1,100 metres while resurfacing and strengthening work takes place. The change took effect yesterday, March 4, 2026.

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  • Protestors force cancellation of most Air Calédonie flights

    MARCH 4, 2026: Protestors have temporarily thwarted plans to move Air Calédonie’s Nouméa flights from Magenta to La Tontouta Airport. The mostly domestic operator was due to make the shift on March 2, 2026. Instead, the airline cancelled most flights.

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  • Airwork’s receivers file second report

    MARCH 4, 2026: The receivers overseeing the Airwork insolvency have released their second report detailing the “state of affairs” at the beleaguered New Zealand freight airline over the second half of 2025.

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March 2026 News Briefs

MARCH 10, 2026: Air New Zealand is suspending its earnings guidance for the six months to June 30, 2026, due to global jet fuel market volatility. Jet fuel prices, which were around USD85 to USD90 per barrel prior to the conflict, have increased sharply to between USD150 to USD200 per barrel in recent days. Air New Zealand is 83% hedged against Brent crude for the second half of the 2026 financial year. However, like most global airline peers, it remains exposed to movements in the crack spread.

Read the stock exchange filing here.

MARCH 10, 2026: Fiji’s Bureau of Statistics says international carriers filled 76.3% of their seats on flights in and out of the country in 2025 – a 0.4% improvement on the 2024 figure.

Read the news release here.

MARCH 10, 2026: Air Calédonie continues to cancel most or all of its domestic flights, with the latest update saying all domestic flights scheduled for today, March 10, are cancelled. The cancellations are due to airport blockades.

Read the news release here.

MARCH 10, 2026: Vanuatu’s deputy prime minister, Johnny Koanapo, says the government has signed a deed of guarantee to clear Air Vanuatu’s remaining debt to the Vanuatu National Provident Fund by December 2027.

Read the news story here.

MARCH 9, 2026: Work has started on the upgrade of Papua New Guinea’s Wewak Airport (WWK). The 24-month project will see the runway extended to 2,010 metres, improved aeronautical lighting to support safe night and adverse-weather operations, and a new passenger terminal built. The National Airport Corporation is undertaking the work through the Civil Aviation Development Investment Project II.

Read the news release here.

MARCH 9, 2026: The International Air Services Commission has received an application from Qantas seeking an allocation of unlimited freight capacity on the Singapore route for 99 years. From April 2,2026, Qantas plans to commence all-cargo services between Sydney (SYD) and Shanghai (PVG) through to Singapore (SIN), using A330F aircraft operated under a wet lease arrangement with wholly-owned subsidiary Express Freighters Australia. 

Read the application here.

MARCH 6, 2026: Korean LCCs t’way Air and Jeju Air have agreed to continue flights to Saipan (SPN) until at least the end of October, having previously planned to suspend them at the end of March. In Jeju Air’s case, Seoul - Saipan flights will stop between March 29 – April 29, 2026, because of operational constraints, before resuming.

Read the news article here.

MARCH 6, 2026: PNG Air has released a list of its top 20 shareholders. The biggest is Mineral Resources Development Company Limited, with 1,557,425,861 shares, or 15.93% of the airline’s issued shares. Cumulatively, the top five shareholders own 66.48% of the airline.

Read the stock exchange filing here.

MARCH 6, 2026: The Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar Airways, and QAI UK have reduced their stake in Virgin Australia from 545,783,569 ordinary shares to 529,039,288 ordinary shares - a 2% reduction. The Qataris acquired a 22% interest in Virgin Australia Holdings Limited for approximately AUD800 million (USD565.4 million) in early 2025. The sale follows the release of shares from escrow after the relisting of Virgin Australia in mid-2025.

Read the stock exchange filing here.

MARCH 6, 2026: Auckland Airport has switched on a fleet of 11 industrial scale heat pumps in its 141,000m² international terminal. The NZD15 million project will reduce natural gas use for heating and cooling by an estimated 40% and marks a milestone in the airport’s plan to phase out natural gas and cut carbon emissions from its operations.

Read the news release here. 

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MARCH 3, 2026. AUSTRALIA

Jetstar tinkers with international ops from Perth

Jetstar is recalibrating its international flights from Perth. It will start seasonal thrice weekly Perth – Christchurch round-trips on October 27, 2026. However, in the same week, it is suspending its Perth – Singapore services.

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MARCH 3, 2026. AUSTRALIA

Fleet renewal quickens as Virgin Australia MAX 8 ferries in

Virgin Australia’s first aircraft delivery of the year is on its way to Australia. The B737-8, VH-8VG (msn 67037), departed Orlando’s Melbourne (MLB) Airport for Kona (KOA) via Ontario (ONT) on March 1, 2026 (local time) and is expected to land in Brisbane (BNE) early afternoon on March 3 (local time).

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March 2026 Aircraft Movements

MARCH 10, 2026: The final ex-Qantas Group DHC-8-Q300 acquired by Avmax has left Australia.  VH-TQE (msn 596) departed Alice Springs (ASP) on March 7, flying to Calgary (YYC) via Cairns (CNS), Majuro (MAJ), and Kapolei (JRF).

MARCH 2, 2026: Abelo has delivered an ATR72-500, VH-FVX (msn 762), to Air Navigator Group’s Australian subsidiary, Aerlink, to support their fly-in-fly-out operations. The aircraft ferried from Toulouse (QYF) to Perth (PER) between February 20 – 27, 2026

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MARCH 2, 2026. VANUATU

Air Vanuatu’s sole ATR72 resumes flying after long grounding

Air Vanuatu’s sole ATR72-600 will resume scheduled flying on March 3, 2026, after spending eight months on the ground. CEO Joseph Laloyer confirmed the restart date after footage of the aircraft undertaking a test flight was posted online.

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March 2026 Route Briefs

MARCH 10, 2026: China Southern Airlines will begin code sharing with Qantas on the latter airline’s Sydney (SYD) – Darwin (DRW) and Brisbane (BNE) – Darwin routes, effective March 29, 2026.

MARCH 10, 2026: Air Tahiti Nui will grow its code sharing arrangement with Qantas, adding its TN flight designator to Qantas’s Auckland (AKL) – Adelaide (ADL) and Auckland – Perth (PER) flights from early March 2026.

MARCH 9, 2026: China Eastern Airlines will operate daily A330-200 round-trips between Shanghai (PVG) and Brisbane (BNE) this upcoming southern winter rather than the previously planned five weekly round-trips.

MARCH 6, 2026: AirAsia Indonesia will launch daily A320-200 operated Denpasar (DPS) – Melbourne (MEL) round-tips on March 20, 2026.

MARCH 5, 2026: Aero Dili will commence twice-weekly A319/320 operated round-trips on the Dili (DIL) – Kuala Lumpur (KUL) city pair on March 28, 2026.

MARCH 4, 2026: Aero Dili will start twice-weekly Airbus A319/320 operated Dili (DIL) - Darwin (DRW) round-trips on May 24, 2026.

MARCH 4, 2026: Air Tahiti Nui will begin twice weekly B787-9 operated Papeete (PPT) – Sydney (SYD) round-trips from December 14, 2026.

MARCH 4, 2026: Air Asia will end its thrice-weekly A320-200neo operated round-trips between Kuala Lumpur (KUL) and Darwin (DRW) on April 28, 2026.

MARCH 4, 2026: Air Asia will end its thrice-weekly A320-200 operated round-trips between Denpasar (DPS) and Darwin (DRW) on April 28, 2026.

MARCH 4, 2026: Qantas will scale back its daily A380-800 operated round-trips between Sydney (SYD) and Los Angeles (LAX) to six per week between November 1, 2026, and March 13, 2027.

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MARCH 2, 2026. TIMOR-LESTE

Aero Dili starting KL flights in March 2026, Darwin in May

Timor-Leste’s Aero Dili will begin flights to Kuala Lumpur this month and Darwin in May, according to CEO Lourenço de Oliveira. At a February 27, 2026, press conference, he said flights to KL would start on March 28 and Dili and Darwin on May 24.

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