Traffic

Boeing 747-438 VH-OJL City of Ballarat was delivered to Sydney on 26/07 as QF531 direct from Vancouver. Qantas are planning to take delivery of two more Boeing 7 47-438’s in 1991, which will then bring the fleet total of this type to 14. These aircraft are VH-OJM City of Gosforddue in mid October and VH-OJN City of Dubbo in November. Boeing 767-338ER VH-OGI City of Port Augusta arrived in Sydney on 01/09 as QF531. Delivery routing for VH-OGI was from Vancouver to Sydney via Phoenix, and Honolulu. Three more Boeing 767-338ER’s will be delivered to Qantas in 1991 bringing to 12 their end of year fleet total. These aircraft are VH-OGJ Port Macquarie and VH-OGK City of Mackay in October and VH-OGL City of Wangaratta in November.

In 09/90 Qantas announced the sale of nine Boeing 747-238B aircraft to overseas leasing companies. Initially they were to be withdrawn from service between 09/90 and 03/92, however delivery dates were later accelerated so that early in 07/91 the final aircraft was withdrawn from service. Boeing 747-238B VH-EBP departed Sydney on 25/07 as QF501D for Singapore. After repainting and pre-service maintenance VH-EBP joined the United Airlines fleet as N165UA.

By the end of 1991 Qantas will have an operating fleet of 47 aircraft as follows: Boeing 747-438 x 14; Boeing 747-338 x 6; Boeing 747-238B/SCD x 2; Boeing 747-238B x 4; Boeing 747SP x 2; Boeing 767-338ER x 12; Boeing 767-238ER x 7.

Compass Airlines took delivery oftheir fourth Al A300B4-605R at Brisbane on 25/08. VH-YMB flew in from Singapore using call sign ‘Monarch 2174’. The A300 entered service with Compass the following day. VH-YMB was originally planned for delivery to Compass earlier this year however this was delayed due to a production line accident (refer p. 6 June 91 AA).

Southern World Airlines have introduced a second DC-8 into service on their freight run between the United States, New Zealand and Australia. Noted at Melbourne on 13/07 was DC-8-63F N863E carrying Southern World titles and named ‘Jubys Dream’. Until late 1990 this DC-8 was operated by Trans Continental Airlines, out of Willow Run, Detroit registered N820TC. In March N863E was fitted with a cargo door by Hamilton Aviation at Tucson, Arizona.

Australian Airlink Commences Operations

Australian Airlink commenced operations on 02/08 with a fleet of three BAe 146 aircraft. The BAe 146-100’s, VH-NJC, -NJY and -NJZ are leased from National Jet Systems in Adelaide. Delivery details and in service dates for these aircraft are as follows – BAe 146-100 VH-NJY msn E-1005 arrived Adelaide on 29/07 on termination of its ferry flight from the UK.

First revenue service for Australian Airlink was TN208 on 02/08 from Brisbane to Rockhampton. BAe 146-100 VH-NJZ msn E-1009 arrived Adelaide on 07/07 and entered service on 02/08 as TN299 from Alice Springs to Cairns. The third BAe 146-100, VH-NJC, which was previously operated by National Jet Systems, was repainted in Airlink colours in Adelaide. VH-NJC entered service on 02/08 as TN218 from Brisbane to Mackay.

To replace VH-NJC in service National Jet Systems imported BAe 146-200QC VH-NJQ msn E-2176 and it arrived in Adelaide on 22/07 from the UK. Originally built on order for Princess Air in the UK as G-PRCS it was never delivered due to their demise. VH-NJQ entered service with National Jet Systems on 27/07 on the Santos contract between Adelaide and Moomba. VH-NJQ also operates on charter to Australian Express four nights a week, Monday thru Thursday. Routing is Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and return with the first service being flown on 29/07.

The delivery and entry into service of the Australian Airlink BAe 146-100’s now brings the 146 fleet in Australia and New Zealand to 27 units as follows: Ansett Air Freight/TNT -200QT x 2; Ansett New Zealand -200 x 2, -200QC x 1, -300 x 5; Ansett WA -200 x 5; Australian Airlink -100 x 3; Eastwest Airlines -300 x 8; National Jet Systems -200QC x 1.

Ansett Worldwide Deliveries

Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services have recently come in for quite a deal of attention from the print media concerning the finances of their parent companies News Corp and TNT. If the second quarter of 1991 is any indication, when nine Boeing aircraft were delivered, then AWAS are certainly finding their niche in the aircraft leasing market.

Boeing 737-33A’s were leased or purchased by the following airlines from AWAS: Air Malawi purchased 7Q-YKP msn 25056 on 20/05. Falcon Airlines, Sweden leased SE-DPA msn 25401 on 18/06. This Boeing 737-33A is the first of three AWAS will lease to Falcon. All will be converted to freighter configuration by PEMCO Aeroplex before entering service. Monarch Airlines, UK leased G-MONV msn 25033 on 05/04. UTA, France leased F-GFUJ msn 25118 on 14/06. VASP, Brazil leased PP-SOF msn 25011 and PP-SOG msn 25032 on 10/04 and PP-SOK msn 25057 and PP-SOL msn 25119 on 20/06. Finally Freeport McMoran purchased Boeing 757-23A N680EM msn 24923 on 30/05. T his aircraft was originally destined for Kenya Airways as 5Y-BHF however that lease did not eventuate.

The third quarter of 1991 also started off strongly for AWAS with the delivery and sale of three Boeing 767-330ER’s to Condor, Germany – D-ABUX msn 25137 on 13/07, D-ABUY msn 25208 and D-ABUZ msn 25209 on 30/07. The first of eight Al A300B4-622R to be leased to Garuda msn 611 was due for delivery in 09/91 with the remainder to follow by 12/92.

Regional Airline News

With Australian Airlines taking complete control of Eastern Airlines from 01/08 and Australian Airlink commencing operations on 02/08 the regional airline scene in Australia entered another phase.

Australian Airlines now have the following operators feeding into their system -Australian Airlink/Australian Regional/Eastern Australia, Sunstate (Queensland) and Sunstate (Mildura). All aircraft in these fleets now carry the colours of Australian Airlines with one exception and that is Eastern EMB-110 VH-WDI which is an all white scheme, however this aircraft is presently up for sale. Fleet units presently stand at 29 as follows: BAe 146-100 x 3; DHC-8-100 x 5; BAe Jetstream 31 x 4; DHC-6-300 x 6; Shorts 360 x 4; Shorts 330 x 3; EMB-110 x 4; Cessna 404 x 1.

On order for delivery in late 1991 are two more DHC-8-100 which will be operated by Sunstate Airlines. Shorts 360 VH-MVX of Sunsate (Mildura) was painted in Australian colours during July. While VH-MVX was out of service Sunstate leased Airlines of Tasmania’s Shorts 360 VH-TAO.

Hazelton Airlines sold their Beech 1900C VH-JHP in Canada during August.

Astral Air Services, who operated under Tranzair colours as an Ansett New Zealand commuter operator, have ceased operations. Their 3 Do-228’s have been repossessed and returned to Germany.

Noted at Brisbane on 31/07 were D-CDOA Do228-200 ex ZK-TRB, D-CDOB Do228-200 ex ZK-TRA and D-CDOC Do228-100 ex ZK-TRD. These were short lived aircraft in our region as they were only delivered to Astral Air in April and May this year.

Ferry Flights

Arriving in Cairns on 29/07 from Horn Island and Weipa were Kamov KA-32C’s CCCP-31020, -31029 and -31034. These aircraft have been working with Heavylift in New Guinea over the last 12 months. The Kamov’s were still parked at Cairns in late August and are evidently waiting shipment back to the Soviet Union. Embraer EMB-721D PT-RXE msn 721201 was noted at Alice Springs on 03/08. Known in Brazil as the Sertanejo this is a license built PA-32R-301. PT-RXE was later noted at Parafield and Moorabbin though it is not known whether it will remain in Australia.

Finally, a couple of interesting Soviet built aircraft visited our region in this period. Noted at Darwin on 24/07 was CSA (Ceskoslovenske Aerolinie) IL-62M OK-JBI. The aircraft, which was operating the first of seven United Nations troop charters was en-route Singapore to Nadi. Arriving in Melbourne on 18/08 was Aeroflot IL-62M CCCP-86514. This Ilyushin flew in from Moscow via Dubai and Singapore carrying a party of children from the Chernobyl area of the Soviet Union.

Bizjet News

Former Queensland Government BAe 125-800 VH-LKV flew out of Brisbane on 03/07 destined for sale in the United States. In July Traffic we mentioned the arrival in Australia of Cessna 560 N8HJ msn 0108. Initially believed to be on delivery to an owner in the UK, N8HJ took up residence at Essendon in late May. Since then N8HJ has remained with lnterair and in early September it was registered in Australia as VH-NHJ. Meanwhile, Cessna 650 N196CM msn 0196 made a demonstration tour of our region in late July, early August.

Freeport Indonesia, who operate BAG 111/401AK PK-PJF from Cairns have purchased Boeing 737-200’s N466AC and N469AC from American Airlines. It is expected that one of the Boeings, which will be registered in Indonesia, will replace the Cairns based BAG 111.

Other BAG 111 news concerns the former RAAF VIP aircraft A12-124. As G-EXPM it has been static at Sydney Airport since early 1990. On 30/08 G-EXPM departed Sydney for Alice Springs and Port Hedland with its eventual destination being the UK. Both G-EXPM and sister aircraft G-KROO, ex A12-125 will join the fleet of Okado Air operating out of Lagos, Nigeria.

Douglas DC-8-62(H) N8970U msn 46071 operated by Australian Consolidated Press flew into Sydney from Colombo on 30/07. Until recently operated by Hawaiian Airlines, the DC-8 was registered in 05/91 to Santa Fe Aviation, Los Angeles, California.

There is very little happening on the propjet scene at the moment. MU-2 Marquise VH-SMZ departed Brisbane for Honiara on 21/07 and eventual sale in the United States. VH-SMZ was delivered to Australia in August 1980 with its first owner being Smithfield Mall. MU-2G VH-UZD was damaged beyond repair by a wind storm at Brisbane in 12/89. The fuselage of the aircraft then lingered at Archerfield for some months before disappearing in early August. If anyone knows what has happened to VH-UZD since then I would appreciate hearing from them. Meanwhile, Commander 690 VH-BLH was delivered to Tamair at Tamworth in late August. After repainting in Tamair colours the Commander was re-registered VH-NEY.

Aussies Overseas

While Oshkosh was the main reason for visiting the United States this year (refer colour spread this issue) I also managed to take in a bit of the local aviation scene.

Altogether some 10,000 road kilometres were covered and over 100 airfields visited in a four week period. Probably most people are aware that a number of jet airliners previously operated in Australia have found there way into US airline fleets. However from the era of real aircraft and the reciprocating engine you can still find a few ex Aussies soldiering on in the US.

At Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco are parked nine DC-6 and DC-6B’s previously operated by Macavia. Two of these DC-6’s, N80MA and N90MA, are part of our aviation history. As VH-BPG Adventure and VH-BPH Discovery they were delivered in 1948 to British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines to operate on their Trans-Pacific services. After the demise of BCPA in 1954 the 2 DC-6’s became part of Tasman Empire Airways.

Convair 340 VH-BZE msn 171 was delivered to Ansett Airways in April 1954 and it remained in Australia for 5 years before being sold to Hawaiian Airlines as N5511K. Still registered as such the Convair was noted at Detroit, Willow Run airport, where it now operates as a freighter for Zantop International Airlines. While in service with Hawaiian the Convair was modified to 640 standard with the fitment of 2 RR Dart engines.

Another Convair I hoped to find on my trip was the former Trans Australia Airlines -240 VH-TAS msn 93. This was operated by TAA between 10/48 and 07/56 when it was then sold to Pakistan. Now registered N396CG the Convair has been based for a number of years at Oakland/Pontiac airport in the northern suburbs of Detroit. When I arrived to find that the Convair had recently been sold I was naturally disappointed. However, it is great to think that some 43 years on VH-TAS is still going strong.