🗞️ Taking off

Sydney's second airport takes its first commercial flight this Sunday, with seven airlines already signed up, including Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways.

The Aussie Corporate Published Oct 22, 2026

Good morning. Sydney's second airport takes its first commercial flight this Sunday, with seven airlines already signed up, including Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways.

The federal transport minister says Western Sydney International will serve up to 10 million passengers a year, and it is planning for 80 million by 2060, which its spokesperson says is more than Dubai, Hong Kong or New York's JFK can handle today.

Melbourne's second airport at Avalon, which opened more than two decades ago with only Jetstar on board, has room for 1.2 million passengers a year and flies internationally only to Bali.

All the headlines and more below...

BUSHFIRES COST AUSTRALIA $6B A YEAR AS FIRE SEASONS STRETCH 21% LONGER SINCE 1979

Australia's fire seasons are now 21% longer than they were in 1979 as global temperatures warm. New modelling commissioned by Emergency Leaders for Climate Action puts the cost of bushfires at $6B a year. It forecasts a $182B damage bill over the next 30 years, with 5.6 million homes at risk.

The bulk of the annual $6 billion is spent on harm to health and wellbeing, ahead of damaged businesses and lost homes. Major events such as the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires cost almost $30 billion alone. That event burnt 400,000 hectares across the Snowy Valleys Council area, killed one person, destroyed nearly 200 homes and left the region's softwood industry offline until at least 2040. Tourism losses from Black Summer reached $3 billion, while insured claims across all bushfires since 2019 total $2.58 billion.

Drier-than-average conditions have persisted along the eastern seaboard for the past 3 months as El Niño takes hold. The report found better protecting infrastructure and homes could avoid $600 million in bushfire losses and protect more than 5,600 jobs each year.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Domain reported that combined capital city house prices fell 4.7% in the September quarter, the steepest quarterly drop on record, as rising interest rates and weak demand hit expensive properties hardest. LINK
NSW confirmed the long-delayed Southwest Metro extension will open with a first service at 4:31am on Friday, October 30, after conversion delays from industrial action and complexity. LINK
HSBC analysis found the government recorded $145.6B in unexpected spending blowouts driven mainly by NDIS and other demand-driven programmes, stoking economists’ concerns about inflationary fiscal policy. AFR
Construction insolvencies jumped 59% to 1,448 firms entering external administration between 1 July and 4 October, ASIC data showed, as rate rises and a major builder's collapse hit the industry. LINK
E-scooter hospitalisations more than tripled to 4,089 in FY25 from 1,291 in FY20, with a 15-fold rise among boys aged 12 to 15. LINK
Immunologists' peak body changed its guidelines for GPs after evidence showed up to 90% of Australians who report a penicillin allergy are not actually allergic. LINK
The Australian dollar climbed 11.7% against the euro over the past year, cutting the cost of a €10,000 European family holiday from $18,160 to about $16,000. LINK

AMAZON PRIME LIFTS ITS MONTHLY FEE 30% TO $12.99 AHEAD OF THE CHRISTMAS RUSH

Amazon is raising the price of Prime membership in Australia from $9.99 to $12.99 a month from 25 November, a 30% increase, and the annual subscription goes from $79 to $99. New subscribers are already paying the higher rate.

Amazon told customers the rise reflects benefits added over the past 6 months, including free overnight delivery before 8am on hundreds of thousands of products in 4 cities and wider same-day delivery across 9 regions. It has also added new series, movies and sport to its streaming service.

Existing subscribers were sent a text saying only the price would change and every other part of their membership would stay the same.

COMPANY NEWS

Qantas overhauled its Frequent Flyer program to let members earn up to 140 status credits a year from everyday spending across 10 categories, boosting engagement for 700 partners. AUS
More than 1 million Suncorp mortgage customers will move to ANZ, where different offset and redraw rules could lift minimum repayments by hundreds of dollars a month and restrict budgeting strategies. LINK
NAB was accused by the FSU of despicable job cuts as economists warned broader banking layoffs are looming amid falling loan activity, rising mortgage switching and AI-related cost pressures. LINK
Wesfarmers Health reported $6.5B revenue and $76M earnings in FY26 as beauty, wellness and weight-loss product demand surged and its Pulse loyalty program reached 10.5 million members. AFR
MA Financial has suspended all redemptions on its $2.3B property lending funds and as property and private credit conditions deteriorate. LINK
Anthropic posted a half-year net loss of US$114B driven by US$72B in accounting charges as revenue surged to US$16.3B and investors weighed cutting its IPO valuation to US$1.5T. LINK
Nick Scali spent $980,000 on consultants and legal advisers after an August cyber attack that took systems offline for 3 weeks as written sales orders fell 15% and store traffic 10%. CB
TPG said its Vodafone network recorded more than 24 million scam calls in a year, with 98% routed via Symbio. LINK
Melbourne Airport forecast its third runway due in 2031 will lift freight capacity and support an extra 37,000 Victorian jobs by 2046 as air cargo demand grows. LINK
Netflix reported Q3 revenue up 12% to nearly US$12.9B and net income up 44% to nearly US$3.7B as stagnating viewer engagement and hit shortages drove leadership upheaval. LINK
Sigma Healthcare reported 12.1% Australian store sales growth and 30.2% international sales growth as booming GLP-1 weight-loss drug demand offset softer discretionary spending on fragrances, vitamins and supplements. AUS