Latest content from Editor Lord Howe Island Signal

This month's letter from Stephen Sia, Editor, Lord Howe Island Signal.

My team has spent the past year mapping the impact of rising freight costs, technological labour shocks, and shifting consumption patterns across Australia’s regional economies. Of all the locations we studied, Lord Howe Island stood out, not because it is unstable, but because it is so finely balanced that small changes offshore are now having disproportionate effects onshore.

On the birth of their second child “Leo Christophe Prohm” on 16th of June, 2025.

The election of the new pope reminds us of the importance of who we are and our mission in life. In his first speech at the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo XIV started with the greeting “Peace be with you all” and quoted the saying of St Augustine “For you I am a bishop but with you I am a Christian”.

Like everybody’s first visit to Lord Howe Island, ours in early May, 2025, completely charmed my wife, Anna and me, here to celebrate her 70th birthday.

On May 28, the boat “Firefox” capsized in a big storm hitting the Island and caused significant damage.

On Friday, 16th May, the last QantasLink flight rolled into Lord Howe at around 2.45pm piloted by senior QantasLink captains, Mark Nesbitt and Jarrod Seen. This flight marked the end of an era that began on the 1st of June, 1991, when VH-TQP an aircraft owned by Eastern Australia Airlines - arrived at Lord Howe bearing passengers, freight and mail from Sydney.

Skytrans officials, Gytis Gumuliauskas (CEO) and Richard George (Commercial Officer), made a quick visit to Lord Howe Island on the 22nd & 23rd May, to brief the Lord Howe Island Tourism Association and Island residents on Skytrans’ progress in taking over Sydney/Lord Howe RPT service from QantasLink.