Newspapers and freight on passenger flights

[Maikha Ly]

G'day all!

I flew on DJ213 from Melbourne to Adelaide this morning. I observed the aircraft's arrival, from Sydney, to the gate at 0730 prior to the formation of our flight, and noted that from the front cargo hold, the ground crew unloaded quite a substantial amount of what appeared to be newspapers, and other postal/courier freight. The following are the photos I snapped to illustrate.





My query is a curious one. I can imagine Australian Air Express and the like can send freight by paying for the space/weight on normal RPT flights (Not just Qantas?), though is it common for Newspapers to be transported this way, and what market would they be going to?

Also out of interest, are any other forms of freight transported in this manner as well?


Many thanks!