Robyn Ironside

Electronic passport screening gates at Australia’s biggest international airports are working again, after a 14 hour outage affecting inbound and outbound passengers.

A European airline best known for its striking beach towel livery, is the latest to team up with Qantas giving frequent flyers more opportunity for points redemptions.

Andrew Cleary only arrived at Virgin Australia a few months ago but he is already making his mark as the airline’s Velocity boss and chief customer officer.

Three near disasters in two weeks at Sydney Airport have triggered a blame game, as pilots warn there is “deep concern” the air traffic control system at Australia’s biggest gateway is at breaking point.

In the ultra-competitive airline industry, there’s a new battle bubbling away that’s already delivering benefits to the most neglected part of the aircraft – the economy cabin. After decades of neglect, airlines have finally woken up to the fact most passengers fly in the back end of the plane and deserve better than a tiny seat with minimal legroom, some slop in a box and too few toilets.

Airservices Australia chief executive Rob Sharp has apologised to travellers, after being berated by Transport Minister Catherine King for “unacceptable delays and disruption at Sydney Airport” capped off by the second near collision in a fortnight.

A Jetstar cabin crew member has been injured after being thrown to the floor when the aircraft stopped abruptly on the taxiway at Sydney Airport to avoid a collision with a Qatar Airways’ 777.

Flights have been delayed by up to two hours, and passengers are waiting up to 90 minutes to disembark aircraft in the latest disruption to flights caused by staff shortages in air traffic control.

Qantas partner Jetstar will start charging its passengers up to $52 to use overhead locker space from February in a move it says aligns the airline with other low-cost carriers around the world.

An investigation is under way into why a Qantas jet was given air traffic control clearance to cross Sydney Airport’s main runway at the same time as a QantasLink flight was landing on it.