Flight JQ136 from Christchurch touched down in Cairns at around 10:40am on Wednesday aboard the A320-200 VH-VQL. The flights will operate three times per week, adding an estimated 70,000 trans-Tasman seats.
Sources have told The Australian and the AFR that the airline, owned by US financier Bain Capital, and its executives have been meeting with potential investors, while the group has also been restructured in new filings as a public company.
Wombat Groundways, the brainchild of maverick businessman Mark Supial, has announced it will launch services using leased jets on the “Golden Triangle” from 2026. Uniquely, rather than flying, the carrier will drive its aircraft entirely on the ground …
Sampson, who was brought on by then-chair Leigh Clifford in 2015, will exit the Flying Kangaroo almost two years after surviving a vote to remove him at the group’s 2023 AGM.
In its final authorisation, the competition regulator said the new routes, operated as part of the Middle Eastern carrier’s deal to buy 25 per cent of the airline, would result in minimal public detriment.