Traffic

Executive Air commenced regional airline operations in early February. From its Darwin base Executive Air is oper ating services to Elcho Island and Gove. Initially used on the service were Beech Queen Air B80s VH-AMD and VH-AMQ however on February 24 Executive Air took delivery of EMB-110P2 VH-MWV. The Bandeirante was delivered to Darwin still carrying the fuselage colours of its previous owner Skywest Aviation along with the tail markings of its last operator Milne Bay Air of Port Moresby. Another Bandeirante to recently cease operations in Papua New Guinea was P2-NAB of Nationair. The Bandeirante which by this time had reverted to its previous registration of VH-FCG was noted at Cairns on February 22.

Gawne Airlines commenced regional airline operations on March 17 with a twice daily service (Monday to Friday) between Shepparton and Melbourne/Tullamarine. Gawne Airlines has taken delivery of PA31-350 VH-LIL to operate its flights however due to the non availability of the aircraft on March 17 the inaugural service was operated by the Air Facilities PA31-350 VH-MZI. Gawne Air lines has been allocated the IATA airline code 4T for its regional airline operations.

Flight West Airlines became the launch customer for the Embraer EMB-145 regional jet when they signed a firm order at Asian Aerospace in Singapore recently for two aircraft with options on a further two.

Impulse Airlines became the new operating name for Oxley Airlines from March 1. Impulse Airlines is part of the Sydney based Impulse Transportation Group which took over the operations of Oxley in December 1992. Oxley Air lines commenced regional airlines operations in August 1976 on the route between Port Macquarie and Lord Howe Island. The first aircraft to carry the new Impulse colour scheme was Beech 1900D VH-SMH which was repainted in Armidale. VH-SMH entered service in mid March and was followed later in the month by Beech 1900D VH-MML. Impulse may however enter into an agreement with Ansett Australia which will allow it to follow a number of other regional airlines and paint its aircraft in the colours of the major carrier. While the repainting programme is taking place Impulse is utilising its Beechjet 400A VH-IMP on the Newcastle to Canberra route. King Air B200s VH-OXA and VH-OXL which were part of the former Oxley Airlines fleet were withdrawn from service and returned to Hawker Pacific for sale.

Link Airways of Wagga has changed its IATA airline code from JK to XU.

Tamair has sold its two remaining PA31-350s VH-NEG and VH-NEI to operators in north western Australia. Both aircraft were delivered in late March with VH-NEG now registered VH-KLK going to King Leopold Air in Broome and VH-NEI now registered VH-SAJ to Slingair in Kununurra. With the sale of VH-NEG and VH-NEI Tamair has been leasing Avtex PA31-350s VH-HJE and VH-WZW for operation on its Forster to Sydney service.

Farewell to Swampie

At approximately 1730 on March 9 Jetcraft Merlin IVA VH-SWP was destroyed when it flew into a hillside near Tamworth with the pilot, who was the sole occupant, being killed. At the time VH-SWP was operating a Security Express freight run from Inverell to Sydney via Glen Innes, Armidale and Tamworth. VH-SWP (previously VH-CFO) was affectionately known to many in the industry as ‘Swampie’. The aircraft held a special place in Australian aviation history being the first of its type in the country and the fore-runner of the Metroliner series, which after a slow start is now the most popular type in its class in both Australia and New Zealand.

Merlin IVA VH-CFO was imported to Australia in 1975 by Civil Flying Services to service a WAPET (West Australian Petroleum) contract between Perth and Barrow Island. On May 4 1975 VH-CFO flew into Perth from Port Hedland and later in the month carried its first load for Civil Flying Services. In late 1979 VH-CFO was replaced by a newly delivered Metro II which was delivered to Stillwell Airlines. The early 1980s was a period of instability for VH-CFO with the aircraft being hangared at Essendon with Stillwell Aviation.

During this period Stillwell was engaged in the importa tion and delivery of the Metro II to a number of Australian operators including Bizjet, Bush Pilots, Inter-City, Kendell, Northern and Stillwell Airlines. In April 1980 VH-CFO was painted in Northern Airlines colours at Essendon however the aircraft was never delivered. Later in the year the Merlin flew with Bush Pilots to cover some unscheduled main tenance on its Metro fleet while in late 1982 VH-CFO was flown to Wellington.

The proposed sale to Air Albatross fell through however and the aircraft returned to Essendon. In early 1983 VH-CFO was used by Kendell Airlines for a short period, however it was February 1984 before the Merlin IVA found a new home and that was in New Zealand On the 25th VH-CFO arrived in Wellington from Essendon on delivery to Air Albatross which later registered the Merlin ZK-SWB. Less than twelve months later Air Albatross ceased operations and ZK-SWB returned to Australia on delivery to the Adelaide based regional airline Opal Air. Now registered VH-SWP the Merlin entered service with Opal Air in May 1986 however the following August Opal Air ceased operations. VH-SWP was then purchased by Kendell Airlines and from late 1986 VH-SWP or ‘Swampie’ as it was known to the Kendell staff plied its routes throughout south eastern Australia. Kendell put its first Metro 23 into service in August 1992 and with the introduction of the new type the days were numbered for VH-SWP. The end finally came on September 14 1993 when the Merlin IVA VH-SWP operated its last flight for Kendell which was KD236 from Melbourne to Albury and Wagga. Later that month VH-SWP was delivered to the Brisbane based Jetcraft.

Other Metro news concerns Kendell Airlines which took delivery of its fifth and sixth Metro 23 aircraft in this period.

VH-KED was delivered to Wagga on March 14 carrying the US registration N3023Q. The Metro 23 was initially flown. from the Fairchild factory at San Antonio, Texas to Oakland, California where ferry tanks were fitted. The Pacific crossing was planned via Honolulu and Pago Pago to Sydney where the aircraft cleared Customs before continuing onto its final destination at Wagga. VH-KED was the first aircraft in the Kendell fleet to carry the newly adopted colour scheme which incorporates the fuselage and tail colours of Ansett Australia with the titles of the regional airline in- volved.

Later in the month Metro 23 N30236 which became VH-KEU was ferried over the same route. With the entry into service of VH-KED and VH-KEU Kendell will withdraw from service and sell another four of its Metro II fleet. VH-KDP meanwhile will be the first Saab 340A in the Kendell fleet to carry the new colours with VH Aviation at Albury planning to have VH-KDP back on line after its repaint in late April.

Brisbane based charter operator Transair took delivery of Metro II VH-TFQ at Brisbane in late February. The Metro II which had previously seen service in France was initially flown to Springfield, Missouri where it was prepared for sale in Australia. VH-TFQ was then flown from Springfield to Brisbane via the Pacific ferry route. While with Transair we would like to clarify a statement made in “Traffic/March’ where we stated that Transair had sold its Citation 550 VH-TFQ to Milne Bay Air of Port Moresby. While the Citation has been placed on the Papua New Guinea register as P2-MBN it is apparently still owned by Lessbrook P/L, the owners of Transair, and operates as a joint venture with Milne Bay Air.

Airline News

Air New Zealand retired three of its older 737-200 aircraft from service in this period with new leases being found for two of the aircraft. Boeing 737-219 ZK-NAP was withdrawn from service on January 16 and was painted in the colours of SAETA (Sociedad Anonima Ecuatoriana de Transportes Aereos Ltd) of Guayaquil, Ecuador before it departed Auckland on March 1 as NZ4092 bound for Rarotonga and Papeete. Boeing 737-219 ZK-NAR which was withdrawn from service on March 13 will follow ZK-NAP to SAETA in Ecuador. Boeing 737-2M6 ZK-NAZ was withdrawn from Air New Zealand service on January 4.

Air Niugini will add a ninth Fokker F28 and a second -4000 to their fleet in October with the delivery of an ex Korean Airlines aircraft. Avro RJ70 G-OLXX which carried the markings of Air Malta was demonstrated to Air Niugini at Port Moresby on March 7. The RJ70 was later noted at Darwin on March 8th while en route from Port Moresby to Surabaya.

Australia Asia Airlines added Boeing 747SP-38 VH-EAA to its fleet on March 28 to coincide with the introduction of additional services between Australia and Taiwan. VH-EAA was withdrawn from Qantas service on March 20 in Sydney after operating QF52 from Singapore and Brisbane. The Boeing then entered the hangar where its markings were changed from that of Qantas to Australia Asia Airlines.

Australian air Express took delivery of Boeing 737-3Q8QC VH-NJE in early April. The Boeing, which Australian air Express has leased from National Jet Systems, is based in Sydney where it is scheduled four nights a week (Mon-Thu) on the route Sydney/Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane/Syd- ney. With the entry into service of VH-NJE Australian air Express has moved the operating base of its BAe 146-300QT VH-NJF from Brisbane to Cairns. VH-NJF now operates freight flights four nights a week from Cairns to Sydney and return. Southbound the BAe 146-300QT stops in Townsville and Brisbane and northbound it operates via Brisbane, Mackay and Townsville. In December ’93 Australian air Ex- press leased DHC-8-100 VH-NID from National Jet Systems for operations on its east coast freight network, however with the entry into service of the Boeing 737-300 the Dash 8 was returned to National Jet Systems.

Boeing 767 Fleet Moves

There are currently 37 Boeing 767 aircraft (20-200s and 17-300s) operating with six airlines in our region. A further five Boeing 767-300s are scheduled for delivery this year to three airlines though some of these aircraft will replace three Boeing 767-200s presently in service.

Boeing 767 operators and their fleet numbers are: Air New Zealand (10) 7 -200 and 3 -300, Air Pacific (1) 1 -200: Ansett Australia (5) 5-200: Australia Asia (1) 1-300: Polynesian (1) 1-300: Qantas (19) 7-200, 12-300. In the forthcoming months there will be a number of changes to the fleet structure with the delivery of at least five Boeing 767-300s: Air New Zealand x 2: Air Pacific x 1: Qantas x 2. It is also possible that further aircraft will be delivered to Air Caledonie and to Ansett International.

Air New Zealand as they have done in previous years will lease a Boeing 767-200 to LOT/Polish Airlines for the northern summer. It is reported however that for its 1994 schedules LOT will require two Air New Zealand aircraft. Air New Zealand will continue its wet lease of the Britannia Boeing 767-204ER G-BNYS until at least late April. Due for delivery to Air New Zealand in 1994 are two Boeing 767-319ER aircraft which will be leased from ILFC. The aircraft concerned are ZK-NCH and ZK-NCI with delivery planned for October and November. On entry into service ZKNCH and ZK-NCI will replace Boeing 767-204ERs ZK-NBJ and ZK-NBH in the Air New Zealand fleet.

Air Pacific will take delivery of leased Boeing 767-3X2ER DQ-FJC in September and on its entry into service Boeing 767-205ER DQ-FJA will be returned to ILFC.

Ansett Australia is reported to be considering the addition of a Boeing 767-300 to its fleet for operation on its international routes.

Qantas plans to take delivery of its 13th and 14th Boeing 767-338ERS VH-OGN and VH-OGO in September.

Pacific Island News

Air Nelson took delivery of Saab 340A SE-ISE at Christchurch on March 14 when the former Swedair air craft ferried in from Darwin and Brisbane. On entry into service with Air Nelson/Air New Zealand Link the Saab 340A was registered ZK-NLF. The delivery of ZK-NLF brings the Air Nelson Saab 340A fleet to eight aircraft. Hevi Lift based at Mount Hagen in Papua New Guinea has operated a number of Kamov Ka-32Cs in our region over the last few years. Keeping track of these helicopters has been difficult so it is appropriate to update what I think is the current scene. On February 17 SSSR-31029 was noted at Auckland after completing its trans Tasman ferry flight from Australia. -31029 has spent most of the last year in residence at Bankstown. Noted at Mount Hagen on March 7 were P2-HCR and RA-31032. Both helicopters carried Hevi Lift’s green and black colour scheme though no titles were carried by -31032. KA-32C SSSR-31031 which carries Hevi Lift colours and KA-32C SSSR-31036 which still wears Aeroflot colours were noted in storage at Cairns in early March. It is known that a Kamou was used extensively during the summer to assist in installing new chairlifts at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains.

Solomon Airlines will have added an EMB-110 Bandeirante to its fleet by the time this is read. When the aircraft enters service it will be operated by Solomon Airlines over its domestic network.

Southwest Air of Mendi took delivery of its first EMB-110P1 P2-SWF msn 110-237 at Mount Hagen in late February. The Bandeirante was previously operated by Royale Airlines as N691RA.