Traffic

Ansett New Zealand Boeing 737-130 ZK-NEA, as AAA913 departed Christchurch on 28/03 on ferry to Apia and Honolulu. Final destination for ZK-NEA was Seattle, where it will become an exhibit in the excellent Museum of Flight. Boeing 737-130 ZK-NEA was built on order for Lufthansa and was the second of its type off the production line. As D-ABEA it made its first flight on 14 May 1967, however it wasn’t until May 1968 that it was delivered to Lufthansa. Meanwhile, Ansett New Zealand Boeing 737-130 ZK-NEB departed Christchurch on 19/04 also destined for the United States.

National Jet are planning to start services in August using three BAe 146-100s. The aircraft will be operated on behalf of Australian Airlines on routes in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Two of the aircraft are believed to be msn 1005 and 1009 and they will be registered in the VH-NJ- block. BAe 146-100 msn 1005 has spent most of its airline life with Dan Air in the UK as G-SCHH, while msn 1009 operated with Air Mali as TZ-ADT.

Bizjet News

Pel Air Aviation Westwind VH-AJQ flew out of Sydney in early May on delivery to a new owner in the United States. This high houred Westwind has been on the Australian register since March 1980. Pel Air flew their ex-RAAF Falcon 20C VH-JSZ to Moorabbin in late April, where it entered the Aerospray hangar for refurbishment and repainting. Though Pel Air are mainly involved in the carriage of freight, the Falcon will be offered for passenger charter work.

Former Queensland Government BAe 125-800B VH-LKV was reported in the media in late May as being sold in the United States. At time of writing, VH-LKV was still with Pacific Aviation at Brisbane, however it does seem certain that by the time this is read VH-LKV will have departed our shores.

Our last survey of the bizjet fleet in Australia and New Zealand was taken on 31/08/90 and at that time fleet units stood at 90. If we take VH-LKV into consideration it means that in the 9 months since then we have had 16 departures and only 6 arrivals so that fleet numbers stand at 80, a drop of 11 %. It is interesting to note that since 1964, when the first bizjet was delivered to Australia, fleet numbers have increased every year except 1983. Noted at Cairns on 20/05 was Citation 560 N8HJ msn 0108. This late production Citation was unfortunately not on delivery to an Australian operator, but was just passing through our area taking its new owner from Wichita to the UK.

Propjet News

literary MU-2 Marquise VH-MIU departed Essendon for Cairns and Honiara on 08/05 as N661DP. For the MU-2, final destination in the United States was Quincy, Illinois. Over the last few issues of ‘Traffic’ we have mentioned two other lnterair MU-2s awaiting their turn for ferrying to the United States. MU-2Gs VH-JER and VH-JES were registered N771DP and N881DP respectively last September. Since then they have been static at Essendon, however during May, N771DP once again reverted to the Australian register but this time as VH-WY Y. On 24/05 VH-WYY departed Essendon on delivery to Western NSW Airlines in Wagga.

International Business Jets Gulfstream 1 VH-JPJ flew out of Essendon on 29/04 destined for Darwin and operations in South East Asia. Another project to depart Australia in this period was King Air F90 VH-CRM. Owned by the Murrumbo Pastoral Company of Killara, NSW, VH-CRM was sold in April to Central Coast Aviation of Salinas, California as N6659V.

Friendship Movements

The Fokker F27 Friendship continues to make news in spite of its recent retiral from airline service on both sides of the Tasman.

Noted at Darwin on 20/05 was F27-400VR-BLY, which is operated by BP Petroleum as an aerial survey aircraft. This 1971 production aircraft was originally built for the Government of the Republic of the Ivory Coast and delivered to them as TU-VAK.

Ansett Airlines F27-200 VH-MMS, which has been static at Melbourne for some months, was leased to Air Cruising Australia between 06/05 and 22/05. VH-MMS was noted at Port Vila and Honiara while operating a Pacific Island charter for Air Cruising.

Eastwest Airlines F27-500 VH-EWP, which has been undergoing modification prior to operation by the Royal Australian Navy on the LADS contract, was ferried from Tamworth to Adelaide on 17/05. VH-EWP requires further fitting out in Adelaide before it commences flying in late 1991.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand have ferried some of their retired Friendship fleet from Christchurch to Blenheim for long term storage. Noted at Blenheim in late March were F27-500s ZK-NAO, -NFD, -NFH and -NFI.

Saab 340 Fleet Moves

Air Nelson added two more Saab 340As to their fleet in April. Both aircraft were previously operated by the German regional airline Air Bremen and were delivered to Nelson still carrying their colours. First to arrive was SE-KRS msn 141 on 18/04 and it later entered service with Air Nelson as ZK-NSL. The second Saab SE-KRT msn 144 ferried from Broome to Cudal on 29/04 before continuing on to Nelson the following day. SE-KRT was registered ZK-NSM before entering service with Air Nelson.

Reports indicate that Air Nelson have withdrawn Saab 340A ZK-FXC from service and returned the aircraft to the United States. This would tie in with the fact that Hazelton Airlines Saab 340A VH-OLG departed Sydney on 26/04 also on its return to the US and PLM Transportation Equipment Corporation of San Francisco. During 1990 both these Saab 340As were ferried from the US to Australia to later enter service with Hazelton Airlines. First to arrive on 14/04/90 was N343AM msn 019, which then became VH-OLG with Hazelton. The second Saab 340A N69LP msn 069 flew into Cudal on 23/05/90 to become VH-OLH with Hazelton. In late 10/90 VH-OLH was withdrawn from Hazelton service and ferried to Nelson, where it became part of the Air Nelson fleet as ZK-FXC.

Regional Airline News

New Zealand regional operator Astral Air Services, who operate under the Tranzair banner as a feeder for Ansett New Zealand, have added two more Bandeirantes to their fleet. EMB-110P1 N132EM msn 436 flew into Auckland from Pago Pago on 22/04, while EMB-110P1 N131EM msn 422 flew over the same route on 01/05. It is believed that these aircraft have entered service with Astral Air Services as ZK-TRM and ZK-TRN.

Skylink Airlines ceased operations on 22/04 with their only aircraft, Beech 1900C-1 VH-JHP, being ferried that day from Adelaide to Cudal. The Beech 1900C had previously been operated by Hazelton Airlines until leased by them to Skylink in 11/90. Since returning to Cudal, VH-JHP has once again recommenced operations with Hazelton Airlines.

Australian Regional Airlines have commenced closed charter operations using DHC-6-300 equipment from 6 May on the Cairns to Kidston route.

The mainstay of the Australian commuter fleet is the Piper PA31 and in this period a number of changes took place involving this type. Hazelton Airlines, who operate a large fleet of the PA31-350, have recently disposed of three. Two VH-DMV and VH-TWB were sold to Camden Aviation with VH-DMV later being delivered in late March to Albatross Airlines. In late April Albatross replaced VH-DMV in service with another ex-Hazelton aircraft VH-DVG. Noted at Moorabbin in mid May with Aus Air was PA31-310 VH-OZN. This is a reregistration of their long serving VH-MBY. Also at Moorabbin, King Island Airlines have added the former Flinders Island PA31-350 VH-MCX to their fleet, however it was reregistered VH-KIJ before entering service.

Flight West Airlines Fleet/Route Expansion

The addition of a second DHC-8 to the Flight West Airlines fleet, and its entry into service in late June, has allowed Flight West to expand their route network and further consolidate their position as a dominant carrier on the Queensland regional scene.

Talair DHC-8-100 P2-GVB msn 151 was delivered to Brisbane on 14/05 and later entered service with Flight West as VH-XFU. From late June Flight West will operate their two Dash 8s on the Queensland coastal route. This twice daily return service connects Brisbane with Cairns via Gladstone, Rockhampton, Mackay and Townsville. At the same time Flight West will introduce new routes out of Brisbane to Bundaberg, Canberra, Coolangatta and Emerald. Equipment to be used will be one of Flight West’s EMB-120 Brazilias.

In late April, Talair BN-2A Islander P2-ISU msn 605 was delivered to Flight West. Since registered VH-XFI, the Islander is being used on services out of Horn Island, where the based fleet now consists of DHC-6-300 VH-XFE, BN-2As VH-XFF and VH-XFI, and Baron 58 VH-EGE.