Traffic

Augusta Airways PA31-350 VH-LIC was written off at Innamincka on May 29 when the aircraft made a forced landing due to engine problems. VH-LIC was at the time operating the north bound weekly mail service from Port Augusta to Boulia.

Eastern Australia Airlines EMB-110P1 VH-WDF returned to service on June 28. The Bandeirante will remain in operation until early October to cover maintenance and repainting of the Jetstream 31 fleet. The first Eastern aircraft to adopt the new Qantas regional airline livery was the newly delivered Dash 8 VH-TQN, with Jetstream 31 VH-TQM following out of the paint shop at Tamworth. Eastern has been awarded traffic rights on the Dubbo to Sydney route with services planned to commence on August 27. To service this route Eastern will add a sixth Dash 8 to its fleet and it is reported that VH-XFU will be purchased from Flight West Airlines for delivery this August. Leased DHC-8-103 VH-NID will continue in service until late August 93.

Flight West Airlines took delivery of EMB-120RTG-EXEL at Brisbane on June 9 with the Brasilia later entering service as VH-XFX. King Air 200 VH-XFB has been withdrawn from service and it departed Brisbane on May 17 for Pago Pago and eventual sale in the United States.

Kendell Airlines has placed an order for two Metro 23s which when delivered in August will bring their fleet type to four. The aircraft concerned are VH-KDŎ msn DC-837 and VH-KAN msn DC-838. Metro 23 VH-KDJ was christened ‘City of Portland’ at a ceremony held at Portland Airport on 26/05. Kendell Airlines other Metro 23 VH-KDT carries the name ‘Spirit of Ceduna”.

Monarch Airlines PA31-350 VH-NDU was destroyed in a crash near Young, NSW on June 11 with all seven persons on board being killed. Monarch Airlines ceased scheduled passenger operations on June 21. Oxley Airlines has returned its King Air B200C VH-RJM to Hawker Pacific and it is reported that King Air B200s VH-OXA and VH-OXL will also be withdrawn from service and returned to Hawker Pacific.

Peninsula Air Services commenced operations in early June to Griffith and Tocumwal from Melbourne/Essendon. Cessna 310R VH-OOT is a recent addition to the Peninsula fleet.

Seaview Aviation commenced regional airline operations on July 1 when it started flying between Lord Howe Island and Sydney using PA31-350 equipment.

Southern Airlines, an affiliate company of Monarch Airlines also ceased scheduled passenger operations on June 21. Sunstate Airlines has terminated their lease on Shorts 330 VH-LSI with the aircraft being returned to Skywest Aviation. In late June VH-LSI was noted in the Maryborough Aviation Services hangar having its Sunstate markings removed.

Tamair christened its Metro III VH-NEM “The City of Tamworth’ at a ceremony held at Tamworth airport on June 5.

Antonov An-12 for Pacific Operations

Brisbane based Mod-Mark Aviation Services operating as NGA Aviation have leased two Antonov An-12 aircraft for freight operations in the South Pacific. N G A Aviation took delivery of their first An-12 at Brisbane on June 12 when RA-11324, which carried AVIAAL titles, ferried in from Rostov via Sharjah, Madras, Singapore and Darwin. It is reported that RA-11899 will be the second An-12 to be delivered to NG A Aviation.

Pacific Express brought another Ilyushin Il-76 to our region on May 30 when Il-76MA SSSR-76423 diverted into Perth for fuel while enroute from Mauritius to Port Moresby. The callsign used by the Il-76 on this occasion was PXH423 and not the usual PHX which Pacific Express has used to date. On arrival in Port Moresby SSSR-76423 was reported to have uplifted two Bell 212 helicopters to Phnom Penh for operation by the United Nations in Cambodia.

Trying to keep track of the Pacific Express Il-76 fleet changes is proving to be extremely difficult. Listed below therefore are recorded aircraft along with the date of its first sighting. If anyone can add to or amend the list we would be very pleased to hear from you. Note that the odd aircraft out is SSSR-76443. This Il-76 has been reported at a number of airports in Europe and the Middle East but to my knowledge has never visited Australia or New Zealand – UR-76408 (03/93); SSSR-76423 (05/93); SSSR-76443 (01/93); SSSR-76493 (06/92); RA-76786 (09/92); SSSR-76798 (03/92); SSSR-76822 (11/92).

Final visitor from the former Soviet bloc in this period was Airfoyle Antonov An-124 UR-82008, which arrived in Perth from Singapore on May 28 carrying heavy mining equipment. The Antonov departed Perth on May 30 for the Middle East with a load of animal carcasses.

Biz/Prop News

Skywest Aviation has leased its Cessna 550 Citation VH-WGJ to the United Nations for operations out of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. VH-WGJ was noted at Sydney on June 14 in an all scheme with UN titles. Fleet Support based at Nowra has two more Learjet 35As with VH-WFE and VH-WFJ now operating as VH-FSY and VH-FSZ respectively. A couple of interesting Bizjets to our region in this period were IAI 1125 Astra N221DT, which was noted at Perth on June 16 and BAe 1000 XA-GRB, which was noted at Melbourne on June 23.

Merlin IIIA N828CM arrived at Parafield from Port Hedland on May 27, however it is believed that the aircraft was on a private visit to Australia. While on the subject of Merlins we can record that the ex Departments IIIBS VH-CAL and VH-CAM have remained static by the Control Tower at Essendon for a further twelve months. The two Merlins have now been parked at Essendon since August ’86 and it really is criminal to see aircraft left to deteriorate in this fashion. Though the Merlins carry the markings VH-CAL and VH-CAM these registrations were cancelled many years ago on their sale to Opex Aviation in California. In actual fact the two aircraft should be painted as N174SP and N173SP respectively.

Meanwhile, CAA Commander 695A VH-LTO has been sold in the United States and it will follow the four other ex CAA Commander 695As to Bush Field Aircraft Sales of Augusta, Georgia. VH-LTO was prepared for its Trans-Pacific ferry flight by Interair at Essendon and in late June it was registered N205AB. Western NSW Airlines has sold MU2B-30s VH-WMW and VH-WYY to Adventure Air Services of Coffs Harbour. The MU-2s, which are based in the Sydney area, are used by Adventure Air Services to operate night freight and bank documentation flights. (It’s an adventure just flying an MU-2! Ed). Meanwhile, Cessna 441 VH-EVP, which has been operated by the Victorian Police Air Wing since July 86 is presently being advertised for sale.

Mandala Airlines Electra Visit

For the airliner enthusiast the highlight of this period oc- curred on 05/06 when Mandala Airlines Lockheed L-188A/C PK-RLF arrived in Perth from Port Hedland. The Electra, which used the callsign ‘PKRLF” was flown south from Jakarta for maintenance at Hawker De Havilland. Mandala Airlines is one of the last airlines in the world to operate the Electra on passenger services and their current fleet list shows five Electras, however only two of these aircraft, PK-RLD and PK-RLF are operational.

The Electra visiting Perth was just the sixth of its type to be built and is believed to be the oldest still flying. PK-RLF was originally delivered in July 1958 to the Allison Division of the General Motors Corporation as N5501V for use as an engine testbed and demonstrator. Between November ’61 and December ’70 now registered NIR the Electra was leased by the Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Team. During the 1970s the Electra was flown by a number of US based operators including Intermountain, Johnson Air and Evergreen International before in November ’80 it was registered PK-RLF on its sale to Mandala Airlines.

The visit by this attractive veteran to the Hawker De Havilland maintenance facility certainly augers well for its future. While on the subject of Mandala Airlines it should be remembered that they also operate two Viscount aircraft both of which saw service in Australia. Viscount 832 PK-RVP flew with Ansett- ANA as VH-RMG, while Viscount 816 PK-RVS was operated by Trans Australia Airlines as VH-TVP. The Brisbane based Australian Flying Museum is presently negotiating with Mandala to bring both of these aircraft back to Australia (refer major article elsewhere this issue).

Pacific Island News

Highlights of this period include the delivery to Air Nauru of their first Boeing 737-400, while Polynesian Airlines took delivery of a leased Boeing 767-200.

Air Nauru Boeing 737-4L7 C2-RN10 flew into Melbourne on June 20 on the termination of its delivery flight from Seattle via Oakland, Honolulu, Majuro and Nauru. C2-RN10 which carries the name ‘President Hammer DeRoburt’ entered service with Air Nauru in early July. Air Nauru is presently planning to take delivery of a second Boeing 737-4L7 C2-RN11 in September.

Airlink has leased the former Sunstate Airlines EMB-110P1 VH-HVS. The Bandeirante which has been in storage in Tamworth since December 92 was planned for delivery to Airlink in mid July as P2-ALZ.

Air Vanuatu Boeing 727-276 VH-TBN departed Melbourne on June 10 on delivery to Aero Exo, Mexico. As f/n AUS/TN6902 VH-TBN was ferried from Melbourne to Fort Worth via Apia, Honolulu and Las Vegas.

Islands Aviation DHC-6-300C-FIOJ arrived in Maryborough on May 14 on completion of its trans Pacific ferry (refer Traffic p79 July 93 AA). After initial attention by Maryborough Aviation Services the Twin Otter was registered VH-IAM before departing Maryborough on June 9 for Albury, where the aircraft was painted in Islands Aviation colours by VH Aviation. In early July VH-IAM returned to Maryborough for further maintenance before delivery to Islands Aviation in Rabaul as P2-IAF. King Air 200 VH-LHK, which was delivered to Islands Aviation in April, has been registered P2-IAG.

Polynesian Airlines has reached an agreement with Air Canada to lease Boeing 767-333ER C-FMWP, however until this aircraft comes off the production line Polynesian has placed in service Air Canada Boeing 767-233ER C-FBEG. Initially flown by Air Canada crews C-FBEG was delivered to Apia from Los Angeles on May 29. Polynesian will utilise the Boeing 767 on routes connecting Apia with Honolulu, Los Angeles, Nadi, Pago Pago and Sydney.

Talair ceased operations on May 25 as a result of financial problems. The bulk of the Talair fleet, six DHC-6-200s, eight DHC-6-300s and eight EMB-110s were parked at the airline’s Goroka base however it is reported that they will be ferried to Queensland for long term storage and on June 10 EMB-110P2 P2-RDT arrived in Cairns with all Talair titles and logo re- moved. At the time of the Talair closure EMB-110P1 P2-RDF was on overhaul with Eastern Australia in Tamworth.

Vanair have recently taken delivery of DHC-6-300 YJ-RVIC with the aircraft first being noted at Archerfield in early June. . . YJ-RV10 was purchased by Vanair from Sataircraft in Denmark, where it was registered OY-SLI, however the Twin Otter has spent most of its working life to date with Air Rwanda as 9XR-KC. Also noted in the Brisbane area during June was Vanair DHC-6-300 YJ-RV8, which now carries the name ‘Spirit of Melanesia’.

Ferry Flights

Metro III OY-GAW msn AC-526 flew into Cairns from Darwin on June 3 on termination of its ferry flight from Denmark, The Metro III was on delivery to Jetcraft, Brisbane with whom it later entered service as VH-UZW. On arrival in Cairns OY-GAW was noted to be carrying the markings of X-Air of Gavie- Sandviken, Sweden. When operated by X-Air the Metro III was registered SE-IVP however when they ceased operations in 1991 the aircraft was placed in storage until sold in January ’93 to Vinther Aircraft Sales of Roskilde, Denmark.

Cessna 208 ZK-REZ of Rex Aviation, Wellington ferried from Brisbane to Townsville and Port Moresby on May 26. The Caravan was reported on delivery to a Saipan based operator as N501TA, Cessna 208B P2-TSJ msn 00339 was delivered to local Cessna Caravan agents Australian Jet Charter in Sydney in mid June. On June 25 P2-TSJ was handed over to its new owners Vanimo Trading Co before departing for New Guinea. Cessna 208B N5327B msn 00295 was first noted in Darwin in August ’92 while on a demonstration tour of our region. On April 7 N5327B departed Darwin for Kupang and Denpasar with its final destination being Kuala Lumpur, where it is now operated by the local Cessna agency.

Airline News

Air New Zealand Boeing 747-219B ZK-NZX has been wet leased to Virgin Atlantic Airways for the northern summer. On April 27 ZK-NZX returned to Auckland on termination of its lease to Malaysia Airlines. After painting in Virgin Atlantic colours ZK-NZX re-entered service with Air New Zealand on June 5 when it operated NZ121 from Auckland to Melbourne. As in NZ6010 ZK-NZX departed Auckland on June 12 on delivery to Virgin Atlantic via Apia, Honolulu and Los Angeles. It is reported that Virgin will utilise ZK-NZX primarily on the London/Gatwick to Boston route.

Ansett Express Fokker 50 VH-FNE has been leased to the new Indian airline Raj Air of Bombay. VH-FNE, which lost its Ansett Express titles in mid April was painted in Raj Air colours at Melbourne before departing on delivery to Bombay in early July. It is also reported that Fokker 50s VH-FNF and VH-FNH have been leased to Raj Air. The all white VH-FNF was ferried from Melbourne to Brisbane on June 1 while VH-FNH, which carries Ansett Express titles has been taken out of long term storage in Melbourne. The departure of these aircraft will reduce the Australian based Fokker 50 fleet to five units: VH-FNA, -FNB, -FNC and -FND in service with Ansett Express and VH-FNI remaining in long term storage in Melbourne.

Australian Airlines Boeing 737-376 VH-TJD terminated its lease to Air Caledonie on June 4 (refer Traffic last issue) before returning to Australian operations on June 6. By the time this is read Australian A300B4-203 VH-TAA will have entered service after repainting in Qantas colours, Next in line for repainting is Boeing 737-476 VH-TJR.

Eastwest Airlines BAe 146-300 VH-EWL was withdrawn from service in early June and was noted later in the month after repainting in the colours of Ansett Australia. BAe 146-300 VH-EWJ then followed VH-EWL into the paintshop and at time of writing the last two aircraft in Eastwest colours BAe 146-300 VH-EWM and Boeing 727-277 VH-ANE were planned for repainting in Ansett Australia colours during July. Present indications suggest that Ansett will retain the Eastwest brand name even though they will be an airline without any aircraft. Qantas Boeing 747-238B VH-EBB departed Sydney on June 22 as QF501D direct to Norton AFB in California on return to its lessor. EBB was the last Qantas 747 to be powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9Ds, leaving the airline with an all RR powered 747 fleet.