New Zealand boosts defence spend to US$6.6 billion and vows increased closeness with Australia
This budget will be spent over the next four years and nearly doubles the country’s defence spending as part of GDP to 2%.
AirAsia is to increase its Kuala Lumpur–Taiwan frequency to nine flights weekly from 15 April.
Following the route’s successful launch last year, AirAsia continued to boost its international connectivity to Taipei by launching more new destinations from its hubs which include Kota Kinabalu (direct daily flights) as well as the Thai city of Bangkok (direct daily flights). These bring AirAsia’s total number of weekly flights to and from Taipei to 23.
Kathleen Tan, regional head of commercial, AirAsia Group, noted, “The response has been extremely good for this route and we are running at an average of 80% load factor since its launch on 1 July 2009. The demand for the existing routes made it very clear for the need to introduce additional flights. The mounting frequency is a testament to AirAsia’s commitment of making travel accessible and affordable to all. It will also provide both business and leisure travellers with more flexibility and greater choice to connect onto AirAsia and AirAsia X’s extensive route network across ASEAN countries.”
This budget will be spent over the next four years and nearly doubles the country’s defence spending as part of GDP to 2%.
Rachel Reeves announced port upgrades, protected budgets for innovation and investment in novel technologies.
The Australian Budget was marked by tax cuts and a looming general election which led to little hope that there would be a substantial defence boost even with a big bill for nuclear submarines due.
The communications company Gilat launched its new Gilat Defense division at the Satellite 2025 expo, with future solutions aimed at US military customers.
US services have already conducted multiple tests with military maritime systems fitted with the system.
Europe’s Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) “has to establish itself…as a centre of excellence for cooperative Defence Equipment Programmes” in the face of growing threats and the need for rearmament, according to the organisation’s chairman.