Traffic

Cape York Air Services commenced regional airline operations on February 6 between Cairns and Cooktown. Current schedules show Cape York operating 12 return services weekly on the route using PA-31 Navajos. Cape York Air Services also operate to 78 airports on the Cape York Peninsula under contract to Australia Post. The current Cape York fleet consists of BN-2A/3 Trislander VH-BSP, -CYC; BN-2A Islander VH-RTP; PA-31-310 Navajo VH-DMF, -DZZ, -PNL; PA-23-250F Aztec VH-MJF, -WJU and Partenavia P-68B VH-IYL.

Flight West Airlines purchased EMB-120RT ZS-MMB from Sun Air in South Africa with the Brasilia being delivered to Brisbane in mid May. The Brasilia, which has been registered VH-XFR, is the sixth of its type in the Flight West fleet. Flight West has leased two Bandeirante aircraft to the Australian Army as a result of the grounding of the Army’s Nomad aircraft. In March EMB-110P1s VH-XFD and VH-XTL were delivered to 173 Squadron. On handover both aircraft still carried the colours of Flight West, however on their tails they had painted the 173 Squadron insignia which is a redback spider.

Flight West also added the former Talair EMB-110P1 P2-RDQ to its fleet in early April with the aircraft being registered VH-XFP. The Bandeirante will be operated as a freighter on contract to TNT for a four times weekly service between Cairns and Thursday Island. Also registered to Flight West in April was DHC-6-300 VH-XFB, an aircraft which was previously operated by Talair as P2-RDY. Both the Bandeirante and the Twin Otter were taken out of storage at Mareeba in North Queensland where they had been parked since arriving from Goroka in July 93.

Geelong Flight Centre commenced regional airline operations on April 12 with a twice weekly service (Fri & Sun) from Geelong/Grovedale to King Island. The Geelong Flight Centre flights are scheduled to connect on King Island with the Airlines of Tasmania service to and from Burnie. Geelong Flight Centre is operating PA-31 Navajo VH-KTD and Partenavia P-68B VH-PNV on their regional airline services.

Impulse Airlines returned its former Beech 1900C-1 VH-OST to service in April and it is expected that the Beechcraft will remain in operation with Impulse until December.

Kendell Airlines will use Saab 340B+ aircraft to replace the present Ansett Australia Fokker 50 service on the Albury to Sydney and Wagga to Sydney routes. Kendell will commence operations between Wagga and Sydney on July 2 and between Albury and Sydney on July 30 with 27 return flights being scheduled weekly on each route. Kendell has ordered two Saab 340B+ aircraft to operate these new services with the aircraft VH-EKG msn 367 and VH-EKH msn 369 planned for delivery in late June. Kendell has opened crew bases in Albury and in Wagga to service the new routes.

The addition of the Albury to Sydney and Wagga to Sydney routes to the Kendell network will bring its annual passenger uplift to 600,000, thus making them the leading passenger carrying regional airline in Australia. It is interesting to note that Kendell operated services to Sydney briefly on two previous occasions. In October 1971 shortly after commencing regional airline services, Kendell operated a Navajo from Wagga to West Wyalong and Sydney; however, flights were discontinued after a short period. The second time was in late ’89 during the pilots’ dispute when Kendell ran a Saab 340A between Wagga and Sydney.

Sunstate Airlines took delivery of Shorts 360 VH-SUM at its Townsville base on April 19 after the aircraft ferried in from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. On its entry into service VH-SUM replaced Shorts 330 VH-KNQ in the Sunstate fleet. Sunstate planned to take delivery of Shorts 360 VH-SUR in late May with the aircraft eventually replacing in service Shorts 360 VH-FCU. Both Shorts 360 aircraft VH-SUM and VH-SUR had the Qantas colour scheme applied before delivery at Southend Airport in the UK.

Whyalla Airlines took delivery of the former Hazelton Airlines Chieftain VH-MZK at its Whyalla base on March 9.

King Air Fleet Changes

The Royal Flying Doctor Service/Queensland Division has added two King Air 200 aircraft to its fleet. King Air B200 N501TR msn BB-1037 which was purchased through Gantt Aviation of Georgetown, Texas arrived in Brisbane on March 20 from Noumea on completion of its Pacific crossing. The King Air was later registered to the RFDS as VH-DAX. Also on order for the Queensland Division is King Air B200 D-IGSY msn BB-1056.

Milne Bay Air has been operating the former Oxley Airlines King Air B200s VH-OXA and VH-OXL since June ’94. Milne Bay Air recently registered the King Airs in Papua New Guinea as P2-MBZ and P2-MBH respectively.

Hawker Pacific imported two more King Air 350 aircraft in the reporting period. Noted at Avalon 95 was N1555E msn FL-118, an aircraft which is currently being retained by Hawker Pacific as a company demonstrator. Also purchased by Hawker Pacific was King Air 350 N3026K msn FL-125 with the aircraft in turn being sold to National Homes of Chermside, Queensland. Christian Aviation based at Ardmore took delivery of PA-42-400LS Cheyenne ZK-RUR in late April.

Cessna 208B Caravan N5192F msn 0424 arrived in Sydney on March 20 on completion of its Trans-Pacific ferry flight. After attention by Australian Jet Charter the Cessna 208B was registered to the Kununurra based operator Slingair as VH-LSA. Cessna 208B N1211M msn 0418 was delivered to Red Dust Air at Jandakot on March 29 with the aircraft later being registered VH-DEX.

Noted at Essendon on April 13 were a couple of exotic Gulfstream IV business aircraft registered V8-008 and V8-SRI. Both aircraft are operated by the Government of Brunei/Royal Flight.

Airline News

Air New Zealand took delivery of its fifth Boeing 747-400 on April 21 when ZK-SUI arrived in Auckland from Los Angeles. ZK-SUI, which is a GE powered aircraft leased from ILFC, operated its first flight for Air New Zealand the following day as the ANZ103 from Auckland to Sydney. On April 22 Air New Zealand took delivery of its sixth Boeing 767-319ER when ZK-NOJ arrived in Auckland on a direct flight from Seattle. With the delivery of ZK-NOJ Air New Zealand terminated its lease on Boeing 767-209ER ZK-NBF and on April 18 it was ferried to Sydney where Qantas had been contracted to carry out maintenance prior to its next lease, which is reported to be to Air Canada. Sistership Boeing 767-209ER ZK-NBH which was retired from service in November ’94 was registered N682SU before departing Auckland in March for the US. Air New Zealand also terminated its lease on the Britannia Airways Boeing 757-204 G-BYAH on March 25 with the aircraft departing Auckland on the 27th for Cairns, Singapore, Sharjah and Luton.

Ansett Australia has announced the withdrawal from service by the end of 1995 of its Fokker F28-1000 and F28-3000 fleets of which it has five and two respectively. Ansett withdrew F28-1000 VH-FKD from service in Melbourne in April ’94 with the aircraft since being used as a source of spare parts. F28-1000 VH-FKA was withdrawn from service in Brisbane on December 9 last; however on April 11 VH-FKA returned temporarily to Ansett operations as a result of damage sustained by BAe 146-300 VH-EWM in a ground accident. VH-FKA has again been withdrawn from service, though this time in Melbourne.

Also retired in Melbourne was F28-1000 VH-FKF. The last revenue service for VH-FKF was AN277 from Mackay to Brisbane on March 30 with the aircraft then being ferried south to Melbourne. The withdrawal of these aircraft leaves Ansett Australia with F28-1000 VH-FKC and VH-FKE and F28-3000 VH-EWF and VH-EWG still in service.

BAe 146-200 ZK-NZA of Ansett New Zealand arrived in Brisbane from Christchurch on March 30. After overhaul and repainting, the BAe 146-200 was registered VH-JJU to Ansett Australia. Boeing 737-33A VH-CZT which has been leased from Ansett Worldwide ferried into Melbourne in mid May from Dothan, Alabama on delivery to Ansett Australia. Airbus A320-211 VH-HYO msn 543 is planned for delivery to Ansett Australia in late July.

Ansett New Zealand BAe 146-200 ZK-NZA was withdrawn from service on March 29 before departing Christchurch the following day for Brisbane and service with Ansett Australia.

Qantas is to add a 19th Boeing 737-400 to its fleet in July with the lease of an aircraft from Air Nauru. Air Nauru Boeing 737-4L7 C2-RN11 will then become part of the Qantas fleet as VH-TJW. Qantas has resumed services to Beijing with a weekly Boeing 767-338 service from Melbourne to Sydney and Beijing. The inaugural QF187 service on March 28 was however operated by the Boeing 747-438 VH-OJB “Wunalla Dreaming” as a PR exercise. Qantas celebrated the 60th anniversary of its first overseas passenger flight on April 17 when Boeing 747-438 VH-OJJ operated the QF51 service from Brisbane to Singapore.

Avalon 95

The Australian International Air Show at Avalon between March 21 and 26 brought a number of interesting aircraft to our shores.

The award for the most travelled aircraft must surely go to the SA Express DHC-8-300 ZS-NMH. The Dash 8 departed Toronto on February 27 for Gander, Shannon and Bucharest where it made its first demonstration flight. ZS-NMH was again demonstrated in Tel Aviv, Bombay, Nepal and in New Zealand before arriving in Melbourne from Christchurch on March 20. The SA Express aircraft departed Avalon on March 23 for Adelaide, Kalgoorlie and Perth and the Indian Ocean crossing to South Africa. Cessna 560/Ultra N286CV msn 560-0286 was a brand new aircraft off the Wichita production line. N286CV departed there on March 11 for Perth stopping en route at Goose Bay, Reykjavik, Zurich, Cairo, Dubai, Madras, Kuala Lumpur and Denpasar. The Astra Jet Corporation Astra N500AJ was also flown to Australia just to appear at Avalon. N500AJ departed its home base of Summit Field, Wilmington on March 11 for Cairns with stops being made en route at Portland, Honolulu and Majuro.

The Spanish Air Force flew its CASA CN-235 T-19B-11 to Avalon from its base at Getafe near Madrid. Stops were made en route at Athens, Dubai, Maldives, Kuala Lumpur and Denpasar before Australian landfall was made at Darwin. The French Air Force brought Alpha Jets E29/314 TM and E68/314 TN from their base at Tours to Avalon with 14 stops being made en-route. For the French it was an interesting exercise in logistics as they moved the Alpha Jets in company with Falcon 200 F-GOJT and C-130H 5140/61-PD from France to Australia. Let 420 OK-XYA made 11 stops en route to Adelaide from Kunovice in the Czech Republic. The former Soviet Union provided a number of aircraft at Avalon including: Antonov An-32 UR-48086 water bomber from Kiev; Ilyushin Il-76 water bomber RA-76389 of Veteran Airlines; Ilyushin Il-78 RA-76556; Sukhoi Su-27 598; Ilyushin Il-96 RA-96000 and Tupolev Tu-204 RA-64006. US military aircraft noted were Lockheed C-5A 80215; Boeing KC-135E 72594 of the Illinois Air National Guard; F-16C 86328 and 86370 of the Colorado ANG; RF-4C Phantoms 65864 and 65932 of the Nevada ANG; Kaman SH-2G 162580 USN.

National Jet Systems Fleet Update

National Jet Systems announced at Avalon ’95 that it has been awarded a contract to uplift mining personnel between Darwin and MacArthur River. To service this contract, which commenced on May 1, National Jet placed an order for a DHC-8-300 with an option being taken on a second. DHC-8-300 VH-NJT msn 399 was subsequently handed over to National Jet in Toronto in mid April. The 50-seat DHC-8-300 is the first of its type in our region and will also operate flights for Qantas out of Darwin. The current schedule for VH-NJT (which carries Qantas colours but uses the airline code OG) is as follows: Mon & Fri Darwin/MacArthur River/Mount Isa/Townsville and return, while on Tue/Wed/Thu the aircraft operates a morning and afternoon return service from Darwin to MacArthur River.

National Jet Systems, using the name Surveillance Australia, ordered 13 aircraft to service its Coastwatch contract. DHC-8-200 VH-ZZA, -ZZB and -ZZC msn 418, 419 and 430 are planned for delivery in the first half of 1996 while Reims F406 Caravan II VH-ZZE, -ZZF and -ZZG msn 76, 78 and 79 are planned for delivery in October, November and December 95. RC-500S Shrike Commander VH-ZZS msn 3071 was delivered to Adelaide in November ’94 as N45WS while PBN-2B-20 Islanders VH-ZZT through VH-ZZY msn 2279 through 2284 will be delivered in pairs with the aircraft planned to arrive in Adelaide in early May, early June and mid July respectively.

Air Freight News

Air Freight NZ added a fourth Convair 580 to its fleet in late April with the delivery of ZK-KFU. The Convair which was initially delivered to United Airlines as a model 340 in October ’52 as N73113 was purchased by Air Freight NZ from Kelowna Flightcraft in Canada.

Ansett Air Freight terminated its wet lease on the Arrow Air MDC DC-8-62F N1804 in March with the aircraft departing Auckland on its return to Miami on April 1. DC-8-62F N1804 had operated with Ansett Air Freight on its trans-Tasman service between Auckland and Sydney since July ’94. As a replacement Ansett Air Freight has leased Air Transport International MDC DC-8-62F N735PL.

Australian Air Express has terminated its wet lease on the Southern Air Transport MDC DC-8-73F N875SJ. The Southern Air DC-8-73F operated its first flight for Australian Air Express from Perth to Melbourne on February 20 and its last as the SJ2240 from Melbourne to Perth on March 30. As a replacement Australian Air Express has wet leased the Air Transport International MDC DC-8-62F N51CX. First operation for this aircraft was on April 3 when it flew the ATN2241 from Perth to Melbourne. It is reported that the Air Transport International DC-8-62F will remain in service with Australian Air Express until late May when the Ansett Air Freight Boeing 727-277F VH-RMX is expected to return to service after its extended overhaul. Australian Air Express leases Boeing 737-3Q8 VH-NJE from National Jet Systems for a four times weekly service on the route Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane. With the Federal Government imposing curfew restrictions on this aircraft through Sydney, Australian Air Express will terminate the lease on the Boeing and replace it with two BAe 146-300QT aircraft.

Ferry Flights

Jetcraft took delivery of Metro III N30693 msn AC-490 at Brisbane on March 17 after the aircraft ferried in from Tarawa. The Metro III was later registered to Jetcraft as VH-UZD. Ferrying from Darwin to Archerfield on April 2 was Metro III Expediter OY-CHH msn AT-502; however at time of writing the new operator of this aircraft in Australia is unknown.

PA-28-161 VH-CLT, which was on delivery to Alice Springs Air Charter, arrived in Australia on March 22 after its island hopping flight across the Pacific.

Inbound to Dunedin from Pago Pago on April 2 was Cessna U206 N9601Z while the following day Cessna 182R N5146E ferried from Pago Pago to Auckland. Ayres S2R-T34 N3297X ferried into Auckland from Pago Pago on April 3 with the aircraft later being registered ZK-AQC. On March 12 Cessna 180K P2-DWS and Cessna 182R P2-BPD of the Monfort Catholic Mission in Kiunga ferried from Norfolk Island to Auckland while on March 23 PA-31 Navajo VH-INX crossed the Tasman.

Pacific Island News

Air Nelson registered its Citation 650 N133LH as ZK-NLJ on March 20.

Great Barrier Airlines purchased DHC-6-300 N37ST msn 207 in the United States from Ted McGill of Ft Lauderdale, Florida. On March 16 N37ST departed Oakland for Honolulu on the first stage of its Trans-Pacific ferry flight to New Zealand; however about 300km NE of Honolulu the Twin Otter was forced to ditch. Though the three crew were rescued, the Twin Otter sank in the Pacific Ocean.

Kiwi West Aviation Beech Queen Air A80 ZK-TIK crashed near Te Awamutu on March 29 shortly after departing Hamilton on a flight to New Plymouth. As a result the six persons on board were killed. Queen Air A80 ZK-TIK, which was previously operated in Australia as VH-NQU, was delivered to Kiwi West Aviation in September ’94.

Milne Bay Air has added Boeing Vertol 234 Commercial Chinook P2-CHI to its fleet.