Traffic

Air North took delivery of its first Metro Iii in this period. Metro Ii Vh-Anw departed San Antonio, Texas on August 3 for Oakland in California where ferry tanks were fitted to the aircraft. The trans Pacific ferry flight from Oakland to Tamworth was made via Honolulu, Apia and Brisbane with Vh-Anw arriving at the Tamair hangar on August 7. Vh-Anw which was delivered in an all white scheme was later ferried to Alice Springs where it was painted in a new paint scheme adopted by Air North. Vh-Anw entered service with Air North on August 17 from Darwin to Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and return. The Metro maintains this schedule five times weekly, Monday to Friday, while at the weekend it operates south from Darwin on the Saturday and north from Alice Springs on the Sunday.

Metro I Vh-Wgy was also delivered to Air North in this period. Kendell Airlines withdrew Vh-Wgy from service on July 22 with the aircraft being sold to International Air Parts in Sydney. In turn International Air Parts then sold Vh-Wgy to Air North with the aircraft being delivered to Alice Springs on August 21. After repainting and refurbishing at Alice Springs Vh-Wgy entered service with Air North from its Darwin base in early September. Air North is planning to add a second Metro Iii to its fleet later in the year. Cessna 441 Vh-Azw was withdrawn from the Air North fleet on August 2 on termination of its lease from Rossair.

Australian Commuter Airlines are planning to operate on the Canberra to Bankstown route. Pa-31-350 Vh-Org was noted at Bankstown on August 13 being painted in Australian Commuter colours with the aircraft later being reregistered Vh-Aug.

Horizon Air has leased Cessna 441 Vh-Anw with the aircraft, which was previously operated by Air North, entering service in August.

Impulse Airlines took delivery of its first Jetstream 41 Vh-Smh at Sydney on August 7 with the aircraft later entering service on the 18th on flight An440 from Newcastle to Coffs Harbour and Brisbane. The second Jetstream 41 for Impulse Vhimq was planned for delivery to Brisbane on September 10 with entry into service on the 12th on the Sydney to Port Macquarie route. Impulse Airlines third Jetstream 41 Vh-Afr will appear at this years Farnborough International Air Show while Impulse plans to use its fourth Jetstream 41 to open a new route between Newcastle and Melbourne in October.

S.A. Regional Airlines took delivery of a second Pa-31-350 on August 3 when Vh-Lil ferried into Adelaide from Moorabbin.

Skywest Airlines terminated its lease on the King Air 200 Vh-Skn in June with the aircraft being returned to Flight West. Skywest has extended the lease on Saab 340B Vh-Sba until mid November however at that time the 340 will be withdrawn from service and returned to Saab. Skywest will then replace the Saab 340B by two Fokker 50s which will be leased from Ansett Australia. It is believed that the Fokker 50s concerned will be Vh-Fne and Vh-Fnf which are presently stored in Melbourne. Skywest Airlines are now using the Ansett/An flight designator on most of its flights with only services from Perth to Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Shark Bay still operating under the Skywest Yt flight number.

Sunstate Airlines is presently sourcing an additional Dash 8 which will be used to cover the painting of Dash 8 aircraft operated by Eastern, Southern and Sunstate Airlines. It is expected that this additional Dash 8 will be delivered in October and will initially be leased for nine months.

Travels Of The ‘Pacific Electra’

One of the highlights of a recent trip to the Uk was to see and photograph the Lockheed L-188C Electra Vh-Eca which was delivered new to Qantas Airways in October 1959. Registered G-Lofa the Electra is now operated as a freighter by the Uk based airline Atlantic Cargo. I am sure that many of our readers would like to know where this aircraft has spent the first 35 years of its life and what its present operational status is.

In April 1958 Qantas placed an order with Lockheed for four L-188C Electras with the first of these aircraft being registered Vh-Eca and named ‘Pacific Electra’. The Electra operated with Qantas between October 1959 and May 1967 when it was sold to Air California. Registered N359Ac the Electra departed Sydney on June 5 on its trans Pacific ferry flight to California. N359Ac continued in service with Air California until mid 1969 when its was placed in storage at Las Vegas. In September 1971 the Electra moved its base of operations to Miami where it was leased to the Ecuadorian airline Ecuatoriana as Hc-Avx. However the lease was short lived and in March 1972 the aircraft was again placed in storage at Miami until December 1975.

In April 1976 the Electra was registered in Costa Rica as Ti-Lrm to the national airline Lacsa. Before entry into service with Lacsa the Electra was converted at Miami to an L-188Cf with the fitment of a rear cargo door. In late 1976 Ti-Lrm was sold to Lacsa and the Electra continued in service with this Central American operator until withdrawn from use at Miami in August 1981. The following month the former Vh-Eca was sold to the Fba Leasing Corporation with its registration reverting to the former N359Ac.

Over the following years N359Ac remained at Miami while passing through the ownership of a number of operators including Turbopower, Qualley International Corp and James B Qualley. In September 1984 the ownership of the Electra was taken over by Tpi International Airways of Miami. About this time Tpi International Airways also added to its fleet the Ansett Electras Vh-Rma, Vh-Rmb and Vh-Rmc. In May 1985 N359Ac was registered to the Jbq Aviation Corp of Miami and shortly after its registration was changed to N359Q. In November 1986 the Electra was leased to Servicios De Transportes Aereos Fuegions Sa/Star of Ezeiza, Buenos Aires with the aircraft taking up the French registration F-Ogst.

On October 4 1990 F-Ogst departed Miami for Gander, Newfoundland and East Midlands where it commenced flying on lease to the Uk based freight company Air Bridge Carriers. F-Ogst remained in service with Air Bridge Carriers until September 1992 and on the 25th of that month it departed East Midlands for Keflavik and Opa Locka on termination of its contract. In October 1992 the Electra was again registered to the Jbq Aviation Corporation as N359Q. The latest chapter in the history of the ‘Pacific Electra’ commenced on November 6 1993 when N359Q departed Opa Locka on delivery to its new owners Atlantic Air Transport Ltd, of Coventry, England. On February 10 this year the Electra was registered G-Lofa and on the 15th it entered service with Atlantic Cargo. Initially the Electra operated on contract to Tnt on the Stansted to Cologne route, however at the time of my visit to Coventry in July G-Lofa was working on a Dhl contract flying five nights a week between Brussels and Luton.

Australian Airlines – The Final Chapter

For Australian Airlines the final chapter in its takeover by Qantas came on August 18 when the last flight was operated by an aircraft carrying Australian Airlines titles. We mentioned in ‘Traffic/September’ that as of late July there were still four Boeing 737s in service carrying Australian titles. Of these aircraft Vh-Tay, Tjd, and Vh-Tjh had all been withdrawn for repaint by August 12 thus leaving Boeing 737-376 Vh-Tax as the last in the fleet to carry Australian colours and titles.

The final flight by an aircraft carrying the livery of Australian Airlines was operated on August 18 when Vh-Tax flew from Brisbane to Melbourne as the Qf637. For the record the first Australian Airlines flight was operated on August 4 1986 when Dc-9-30 Vh-Tjq of Trans Australia Airlines operated Tn405 from Brisbane to Coolangatta and Sydney.

Qantas took delivery of two Boeing 767-338Er aircraft in this period to bring its Boeing 767 fleet total to 22 units, comprising seven Boeing 767-238Ers and 15 Boeing 767-338Ers. Vh-Ogn ‘City of Devonport’ as the Qfa8531 was planned into Sydney from Payne Field, Washington via Nadi on August 25 while Vh-Ogo ‘City of Queanbeyan’ was planned into Sydney using the same flight and over the same route on August 28. Qantas is to send its four Airbus A300B4-203 aircraft to the British Aerospace facility at Filton, England for major maintenance with Vh-Taa departing Melbourne for the Uk on August 30. Qantas Boeing 747-238B Vh-Eba, which was in desert storage in the United States, was cancelled from the Australian register on June 30. The new owner of the Boeing 747 is Aar Aviation Trading of Illinois who has registered the former Vh-Eba as N614Ar.

Arriving in Melbourne from Brunei on August 23 was Boeing 707-138B N138Sr of Comtran International of San Antonio, Texas. The aircraft was in Australia to demonstrate its Stage Ii engine hushkits to the Raaf, but is perhaps better known as the former Vh-Ebb ‘City of Sydney’ an aircraft which was built on order for Qantas Airways and delivered to them in June 1959, some 35 years ago.

Ansett Australia Boeing 747 Delivery

Ansett Australia took delivery of its first Boeing 747-312 at Sydney on August 29 after Vh-Inj flew in from Singapore. Later that day Vh-Inj continued its flight south to Melbourne. On the 30th Vh-Inj operated a staff familiarisation flight from Melbourne to Brisbane and Sydney while for the remainder of the week the Boeing 747 was used on Ansett Australia domestic services from Sydney to Perth and return. Ansett Australia took delivery of its second 747-312 Vh-Inh on September 3 when the aircraft flew into Melbourne from Singapore. The Boeing 747 entered international operations with Ansett Australia on September 4 from Sydney to Kansai and on September 10 from Sydney to Hong Kong. Delivery of the Boeing 747s also heralded in the introduction of the new colour scheme for Ansett Australia.

Fokker 50 Vh-Fng, which has been operating on lease to Austrian Air Services as Oe-Lfx, should have returned to Melbourne by the time this is read. It is also expected that Fokker 50 Vh-Fnj which is also with Austrian Air Services as Oe-Lfw will return to Melbourne in October.

Premier Airlines commenced operations on September 5 using Boeing 727-77C Vh-Tbs on its Dhl contract between Auckland and Sydney. Premier plans to replace Vh-Tbs with a hush kitted Boeing 727-200 in December.

Pacific Island News

Air Nelson/Air New Zealand Link took delivery of its 12th Saab 340A at Nelson on August 8 with the arrival of the former Swedair aircraft Se-Isu. The Saab entered service with Air Nelson later in the month as Zk-Nlp.

Air New Zealand has leased a Boeing 747-475 from Ilfc for delivery in October, which is some four years earlier than its previous fleet plans for an additional aircraft of this type. It is believed that the Boeing 747-400 concerned was previously operated by Varig, Brasil as Pp-Vpl.

Boeing 737-219 Zk-Nar was withdrawn from service in March on termination of its lease from Ilfc. Initially it was reported that Ilfc would then lease the aircraft to Saeta in Ecuador however this in effect did not take place. On July 19 Zk-Nar now registered N237Ta and carrying the colours of Taca International Airlines departed Auckland for Pago Pago on the first leg of its delivery flight to El Salvador. Boeing 737-2M6 Zk-Naz was withdrawn from service in January on termination of its lease from Ilfc. Latest reports suggest that Zk-Naz may return to service with Air New Zealand.

During July Air New Zealand commenced a series of weekly ‘Snow Express’ flights for the ski enthusiast using Boeing 737-200s on the Christchurch/Brisbane/Christchurch route with Boeing 737-219 Zk-Nax being first noted at Brisbane on July 23.

Air Pacific took delivery of its first Boeing 767-3Q8Er in mid September when Dq-Fjc ‘Island of Vanua Levu’ arrived in Nadi from Seattle. The entry into service of the Boeing 767-3Q8Er, which has been leased from Ilfc, will see Air Pacific withdraw from service its Boeing 767-205Er Dq-Fja and return the aircraft to Ilfc.

Air Safaris has imported Gaf Nomad N-24A Zk-Nmh into New Zealand from the United States with the aircraft being crated in to Dunedin during July.

Air Tungaru is reported to have leased Bn-2A Zk-Fwz from Southern Air with the aircraft ferrying from Auckland to Norfolk Island and Nadi on July 10. On entry into service with Air Tungaru the Islander was registered T3-Ath.

Eagle Airways/Air New Zealand Link added two Metro Ii aircraft to its fleet in August with the delivery of N351Ae msn Ac-641 and N352Ae msn Ac-637.

Great Barrier Airlines added Bn-2A F-Ocra to its fleet in June with the aircraft being registered Zk-Cra. Also on line with Great Barrier in June was Emb-820C Zk-Rdt an aircraft which was ferried to New Zealand earlier in the year as Pt-Rdt.

Bandeirante Fleet Update

Islands Aviation/Nationair has purchased three Bandeirante aircraft for passenger operations from its Port Moresby base. Arriving in Cairns on August 17 after its long ferry flight from South Africa were Emb-110P2s P2-Iak and P2-Jal. Both aircraft, which were previously operated by Bopair of Mafikeng, Bophuthatswana as Zs-Lgm and Zs-Lgn respectively, made the Indian Ocean crossing via Mahe, Colombo, and the Cocos Islands. The third Bandeirante purchased by Islands Aviation/Nationair was the former Shuttle Airlines Emb-110P1 Vh-Fce. After the termination of its lease to Oxley Airlines in early 1993 Vh-Fce was flown to Essendon for storage with Interair. Before delivery to Cairns in late August Vh-Fce was painted in Islands Aviation colours and registered P2-Iaj.

North South Aviation based in Auckland operated Emb-110P1 Zk-Kml mainly on night freight operations. On June 27 North South ceased operations reportedly due to financial problems however on July 4 Zk-Kml was flying again over the same routes this time under the operating name of Trans Global Aviation.

Biz/prop News

There are now definite signs that this sector of the market is starting to move again and this month we can report the delivery of two Cessna Citation Ii 550s and a King Air C90-1 to local operators.

The Adelaide based Arrowcrest Group operated King Air B200 Vh-Arz for a number of years however in May the King Air was sold to King Air Services in Sydney as Vh-Jjr. Arrowcrest have recently replaced the King Air B200 with a Cessna 550 which has taken up the previously used registration of Vh-Arz.

Melbourne based Yulgibar Holdings t/a Executive Airlines earlier this year sold its Cessna 500 Vh-Hvm to Rosemount Wines in the Hunter Valley. Executive has replaced the Cessna 500 with a Cessna 550 Vh-Exm with the aircraft being delivered to Australia in early September. Cessna 550 Vh-Exm msn 0228 was previously registered in the United States to Chrisair International of Rolling Meadows, Illinois as N96Cs.

Beech King Air C90-1 N71Sl msn Lj-1020 was imported by Aeromil on July 30 when the aircraft ferried into Brisbane from Noumea. Final destination for the ferry flight was the Aeromech hangar at Maroochydore where the King Air was registered Vh-Ljg. In late August the King Air was delivered to an owner at Moorabbin where it has replaced a previously used Baron 58 Vh-Lfc.

Menzies Electrical has purchased Merlin Iiic N90Gt msn Tt-534 from the Groendyke Transport company in the United States. Currently Menzies Electrical operates Mitsubishi Mu2B-26A Vh-Xmz from its Essendon base.

Gulfstream I Vh-Flo was offered for auction at Auckland Airport on September 9 by Pickles Auctions of Sydney.

Australian Jet Charter demonstrated Cessna 208B Grand Caravan N1122N msn 0391 in Australia during late August and early September. On conclusion of the Australian tour the Caravan was delivered to Motor Holdings in New Zealand. Australian Jet Charter plans to import two Cessna 208Bs next January with the aircraft being on order for Red Dust Air in Western Australia and Ngaanyatjarra Air in Alice Springs.