A pilot spots chinese warships near australia

A Virgin Australia pilot was the first to spot three Chinese warships off Australia’s east coast last week, Airservices Australia has revealed.

The Chinese fleet—made up of a frigate, a cruiser, and a replenishment ship—was sailing just 150 nautical miles off Sydney in the Tasman Sea on Friday morning. Beijing later confirmed it was carrying out live-fire drills in international waters.

Rob Sharpe, chief executive of Airservices Australia, told a Senate committee that his organisation first heard about the warships from a Virgin Australia aircraft at 9:58 am.

"It was, in fact, a Virgin Australia aircraft that advised one of our air traffic controllers that a foreign warship was broadcasting, that they were conducting live firing 300 nautical miles east off our coast," Sharpe said.

Peter Curran, the deputy chief executive, added that the warships were using an international guard frequency—one that air traffic controllers don’t monitor, but pilots do.

Within two minutes of the report, a hazard alert was issued to all flights in the area, and the Australian Defence Force was notified shortly after.

"At that stage, we didn't know whether it was a potential hoax or real. We simply passed the information as per standard procedure," Curran explained.

By 10:18 am, an Emirates pilot had made contact with the Chinese ships and confirmed they were conducting live-fire exercises. In response, air traffic controllers diverted 49 flights as a precaution.

Curran noted that the Chinese vessels had since moved further south in the Tasman Sea and were no longer disrupting air traffic.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked today whether it was concerning that a commercial airline was the first to report the warships, but he insisted Defence was "certainly aware" of their presence.

"Australia has had frigates, both monitoring by sea and by air, of the presence in the region of these Chinese vessels," he said.

While Albanese confirmed that China’s actions were in line with international law, Foreign Minister Penny Wong raised concerns over transparency regarding the drills.