The Week in Brief 9 February 2012

Singapore Airlines has started codesharing on Virgin Australia's domestic flights, adding 20 more ports to SQ's local network.

And Singapore Airline's new long-haul budget carrier Scoot has announced its second Australian destination after Sydney, with flights to start from Singapore to the Gold Coast in June.

Jetstar Japan is bringing forward its launch of services to 3 July, when it begin flying between five major cities in Japan: Tokyo Narita, Osaka, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Okinawa.

The 24th annual Aeromedical Society of Australasia/Flight Nurses Australia scientific meeting will be held in Cairns from 29 August to 1 September. A call for abstracts has just been issued. Further details: www.aeromedconference.org.au

Derek Morris has joined China Southern Airlines regional sales/marketing department in Sydney, after 27 years with Cathay Pacific.

Garuda is to add a further 51 aircraft to its fleet, with 10 being B777s and the remainder smaller aircraft, mainly B737NGs and A320s. The acquisitions will build the airline's fleet to 146 aircraft by 2015.

ICAO has launched a video contest on YouTube to promote careers in aviation among young people. Entitled Aviation: The Future is Yours, the contest will run until 22 February. Participants are asked to produce a video of 30 seconds or less on why a career in aviation would be exciting. The prize will consist of a paid trip to the World Aviation Training Conference and Tradeshow in Florida in April 2012. The contest is part of ICAO's Next Generation of Aviation Professionals initiative which addresses the anticipated shortage of skilled aviation professionals in the near future. For more information click here.

A Virgin Australia pilot is suing the company for back injuries he claims were the result of having to carry his heavy charts and documents bag instead of an iPad loaded with all the data. How did we all manage to get by when those flight bags were the only option?