A mid-air collision between two small aircraft near Sydney has claimed the life of a veteran Qantas pilot. Qantas pilot Gary Criddle, 72, was confirmed as one of three people dead. The weekend mid-air accident involved a Jabiru light aircraft and a Cessna 182, which was carrying two people. All three people died. The two planes went down in bushland southwest of Sydney close to Belimbla Park. One burst into flames on impact with the ground, while witnesses say they saw debris falling. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating what caused the collision. “Over coming days, investigators will undertake site mapping, examine the wreckage of both aircraft, and recover any relevant components for further examination,” the ATSB said. Australian media said off-duty pilot Criddle was instructing another person in the Cessna when the collision happened. Khadervali Gagguturu, 60, was named as the pilot of the Jabiru plane. “Captain Gary Criddle was a highly respected and loved member of the Qantas flying community,” said Qantas Chief Pilot Richard Tobiano. Criddle had been flying for Qantas for nearly four decades. 

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Hundreds of Qantas engineers have walked out at Melbourne Airport amid a long running wage dispute. The maintenance workers are on a 24-hour strike that could lead to flight delays or cancellations. Engineers at Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport staged the walkout from 9am, while more engineers are striking at Brisbane. The snap strike comes after weeks of fruitless talks between the airline and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Electrical Trades Union and Australian Workers Union. The unions are seeking an initial 15% pay rise and 5% per year thereafter. They say they have had no increase for nearly four years. "When times were tough, our members accepted years of wage freezes," AWU National Secretary Paul Farrow said. "Now that the profits are flowing, it's time for Qantas to come to the table with a decent offer." Stoppages began in late September when more than 1,000 engineers began strike action at multiple airports. Pay talks have been going on for nearly six months. "Every time there is a problem at Qantas, the executives ignore it and just hope that it will go away," AMWU National Secretary Steve Murphy added.   

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Qantas has been accused of misleading its customers over its carbon-neutral claims. Director of Climate Integrity Claire Snyder said the airline is greenwashing and has called on regulator ACCC to investigate. "The first representation is, are Qantas presenting flying as more sustainable than it is, and creating a perception of flying as increasingly sustainable," she said. "The second representation that we've asked the ACCC to look into and investigate is the Qantas claim that they're on a path to net zero in line with the goals of the Paris agreement.” Qantas offers customers the 'Fly Carbon Neutral program' This allows customers to pay extra to ‘offset emissions’ from the flight "Carbon offsetting allows us to help compensate for these emissions by purchasing offsets that remove, reduce or avoid emissions in the atmosphere from projects outside the aviation sector," it says on the website. “Qantas' representation of offsets in this way has the potential to mislead consumers by creating a false equivalency between carbon emissions and carbon sequestration through offsets," Climate Integrity said. Snyder says there is clear evidence one tonne of carbon emitted cannot be considered the same as one tonne of carbon sequestered through an offset program. "While contributing to conservation is a great thing, it cannot compensate or neutralise for, the emissions from flying." 

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Up to 1,000 Qantas loyalty members may have had their accounts compromised in a cyber theft attempt. According to a Sky News Australia report, it implicates two Air India contractors. The two contractors have been suspended and accused of accessing and making unauthorised changes to the Qantas loyalty accounts. They are accused of trying to transfer points from the customer accounts to another account they had control of. A criminal investigation has been opened by police in India. The changes were allegedly made via external airline booking systems, the Guardian reports. Qantas issued an apology for the ‘fraudulent activity’ and claimed it affected a number of airlines. “As soon as we became aware of this, we worked closely with our airline partners to secure their systems to prevent this issue from happening again.” “Customers have received the full amount of points and status credits they were entitled to.” 

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Qantas has touched down its first ever A380 flights to Africa. Sydney-Johannesburg flights are now served by the superjumbo, upgrading service with an extra 130,000 seats annually between Australia and Africa. This nearly doubles overall capacity. This is also thanks to the relaunch of Perth- Johannesburg flights in mid-2025. Johannesburg flights will operate up to six times per week. “We are seeing strong demand for our Johannesburg services and, by upgrading to the Superjumbo, we will nearly double capacity during peak periods,” Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said. In addition, Qantas inked an airline codeshare agreement offering expanded connectivity within South Africa. It gives access to onward flights to nine cities. “This extra capacity, combined with our new codeshare with Airlink, will significantly expand the options for Qantas customers heading to Africa.” 

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Qantas passengers have been warned of potential travel disruption as the airline’s engineers go on strike. The industrial action kicks off at Melbourne today and then on Monday. Other airport strikes are planned around the country on 2 October and 4 October. Engineers are seeking an initial 15% pay rise this year and the 5% annually. The Qantas Engineers’ Alliance said the strike is ‘highly likely’ to impact flights. Qantas says it has made contingency plans and doesn’t believe there will be widespread disruption. However, the airline has offered passengers the option to change to earlier flights before the strike action begins. The union says its members have gone without pay increases for nearly four years. Steve Murphy, AMWU National Secretary, said: “Nothing has changed at Qantas —workers feel undervalued, underpaid and under-appreciated. If you’ve had a bad Qantas experience, well that’s nothing compared to how Qantas makes their workers feel every day.” 

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An Australian politician has called for the breaking up of Qantas Group to ‘deal with the airline duopoly.’ Shadow Transport Minister Bridget McKenzie said the government should introduce powers to spin off low cost Jetstar from Qantas control. It came in an op-ed published by the Australian Financial Review. McKenzie wrote it should be a ‘divestiture as a measure to ensure consumers’ interests.’ McKenzie said the Australian competition regulator should explore ‘the role of divestiture.’ However, party leader David Littleproud said this isn’t policy yet. Littleproud did say it was a ‘sensible look at competition to ensure we have cheaper airfares.’ McKenzie later clarified that ‘divestiture powers is a tool that the treasurer needs to look at.’ 

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Australia flag carrier Qantas has suffered an expensive ‘mistake fare’ glitch. However, the airline has vowed to honour the bookings – sort of. Last week, a coding error had return first class flights – normally priced at $20,000 – on ‘sale’ for less than $5,000. The error went unnoticed for about eight hours. By the about 300 customers had made bookings. It represented a discount of about 85%. The airline said it will honour the bookings, but for business class, or customers can opt for a full refund. They were mostly for long haul flights to the US between September 2024 and June 2025. “Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true,” the airline said. Even though it is no longer for first class, the price paid is still a bargain for business class service. "As a gesture of goodwill, we’re rebooking customers in business-class at no additional cost.”

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Passenger on New Zealand – Australia trans-Tasman flights will be the first to test a new digital version of the Australia Travel Declaration passenger card. It will be piloted later this year for Qantas passengers on select flights inbound from New Zealand. Available through the Qantas app, passenger fill in the card and will receive a digital pass with a QR code on confirmation. The QR code will also be sent to their registered email address. Passengers can complete the form up to 72 hours in advance of their Australia bound flight. “This will allow us to gain valuable feedback from passengers that will help refine the product and inform future expansion,” an Australian Border Force spokesperson said. Travel and business groups and government officials from both countries have been pushing for more seamless trans-Tasman travel. The Trans-Tasman Seamless Travel Group was set up last year and includes senior officials of the ABF and the New Zealand Customs Service. "The Australia Travel Declaration is the first initiative from the group and shows the power of a joint approach and leveraging expertise,” said ABF Commissioner Michael Outram. 

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Qantas has officially introduced a pay as you go monthly airport lounge subscription scheme. It offers a flexible, lower cost option for lounge access. The Qantas Club Flexible scheme costs $99 for 28-day access to domestic and international airport lounges. The airline is promoting it as an option for infrequent flyers. This is in addition to Qantas Club memberships which range from one-year, two-year, and four-years. These memberships cost from $699 to $2,399. The monthly subscription can be cancelled at any time as long as it is at least three days before the next monthly renewal. The membership will auto-renew if not cancelled in advance. It gives access to all Qantas Clubs and Qantas Regional Lounges across Australia and at select international airports.   

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Australia flag carrier Qantas has been forced to scrap some Japan flights due to acute jet fuel shortages at regional airports. To meet the growing winter sports market to Japan from Australia, Qantas had planned to start flights to New Chitose Airport, Sapporo. The airline will now ditch the weekly route amid the jet fuel squeeze. The Japanese fuel industry has consolidated due to Japan’s declining population but is unable to quickly ramp up production as air travel demand soars. It will affect 14 flights to New Chitose. The problem is also impacted by a shortage of regional fuel transport workers. Other airlines are also being impacted. South Korea's Korean Air and T'way Air are scrapping summer routes to Asahikawa Airport and Obihiro Airport in Hokkaido. The jet fuel squeeze is also impacting other regional airports. "We're struggling just to keep up with increased demand from All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines," said oil distributor source. "It's hard for us to take sudden orders from international carriers." Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism this week held a first public-private meeting discussing jet fuel shortages. 

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Qantas will acquire the remaining 49% stake in online travel company TripADeal, to take full control of the Australian business. Qantas bought a majority stake in TripADeal in 2022. It was a deal to enable Qantas loyalty members to earn and use Qantas Points on holiday packages marketed by TripADeal. The remaining 49% is valued at $211 million and the transaction expected to be completed by the end of this month. Qantas says cost and revenue synergies will result in at least $50 million annually over time. To mark the deal, Qantas loyalty members will get a 30% discount on TripADeal bookings made with Qantas points. The airline says TripADeal will continue to operate as an independent business, and will still work with other travel partners and airlines. The travel platform recently launched cruise bookings. 

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