New regional carrier Connect Airlines has a memorandum of understanding with a major US airline for a commercial partnership that, upon Connect closing its next round of fundraising, could turn into a significant equity investment. The name of the “major US airline” was not disclosed in a letter sent by the legal counsel for charter operator Waltzing Matilda Aviation, which owns Connect, to the Department of Transportation on August 4. But prior filings with the regulator for the airline’s certification have named American Airlines as Connect’s commercial partner once it begins revenue flights between Toronto’s downtown-adjacent Billy Bishop Airport and American’s Chicago and Philadelphia hubs. The potential investment was first reported by PaxEx.Aero. Waltzing Matilda CEO John Thomas declined to name the potential major U.S. airline investor, and noted that “it is not necessarily as previously filed as that was noted simply as an interline agreement.” An American spokesperson did not respond to an inquiry on the potential investment. The airline is the only major U.S. carrier without a partner on Canadian routes; Delta Air Lines codeshares with WestJet, and United Airlines has a joint venture with Air Canada.<br/>
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Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia. Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”. The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once-daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities. However, under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports. In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia. By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement. However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates. Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night and almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.<br/>