In one of the most dramatic tech outages in history, a botched update by cyber security company CrowdStrike last Friday crippled computers around the world – and Australia’s aviation sector did not escape unscathed.

Airlines were left unable to check in customers and their baggage, airports were swamped with passengers on delayed and cancelled flights, and planes were grounded across the country, with Jetstar in particular not back to normal until early Saturday morning.

Adam and Jake look at what went wrong and whether aviation has put too many of its eggs into one cyber security basket.

Plus, as major east coast gateways still lag behind pre-pandemic passenger levels, what’s still holding Australia’s domestic aviation recovery back?

With the ashes yet cooling on Bonza’s funeral pyre, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson made an eyebrow-raising suggestion at the Flying Kangaroo’s Perth–Paris launch last week: that Australia can’t sustain more than, say, three major domestic airline groups (coincidentally, the number it has now).

As the country reacquaints itself with the old familiar Qantas–Virgin equilibrium – and as Rex continues its push to disrupt the duopoly – will Hudson be vindicated, or will another challenger eventually prove her wrong?

Adam and Jake examine the state of play and whether Bonza is truly just another data point against airline competition in Australia.

Plus, Rex’s new leadership faces a boardroom coup from the old boss, Melbourne Airport waves the white flag on the long-overdue rail link, and Emirates thumbs its nose at “too clever by half” safety videos.

Australian Aviation is gearing up to host our third annual awards next month in association with UNSW and its School of Aviation.

The university recently hosted a panel examining sustainability in the sector, featuring some of the most influential figures in the industry.

The panel included Rex’s Ron Bartsch, Qantas’ Harry Jobberns and Jet Zero’s Ed Mason.

In this episode, we let you listen in to the debate.