Registered A62-001, the jet is one of two slated to arrive in coming months and will be used to fly government ministers and the Governor-General, replacing two ageing 737-700s.
The capabilities can be deployed as a complement to Australia’s crewed systems, and are scheduled for delivery in 2025. It comes as the Albanese government has earmarked more than $10 billion on expenditure for uncrewed systems.
The airline currently operates 24 round trips per week from Perth to Mt Keith and Perth to Leinster on behalf of BHP Nickel West, effectively occupying two of its Fokker 100 aircraft full-time.
The airport is set to install a new 2.3MWp (megawatt peak) photovoltaic solar system, which it says would provide enough energy to power 1,000 homes per year, on the domestic and international terminal roof.
A Google ship reportedly arrived in French Polynesia on Friday to start survey work on five planned subsea cable projects that will connect various Pacific islands with Chile and Australia.