Traffic

Bizjet News

It’s been a long time since we have seen so much activity in this sector of the market and long may it continue. Gulfstream IV VH-CCC was registered to the Melbourne Crown Casino on September 22 however it should be noted that the Casino had been operating the Gulfstream in our area since June under its Swiss registration HB-ITZ. The Gulfstream IV has taken up residence in the Hawker de Havilland hangar at Melbourne Airport. Falcon 50 VH-PPF was registered to the Paspaley Pearling Company, Darwin on August 7 however it was late October before the aircraft was first sighted in the country. Falcon 10 N509TC which was imported by McCafferty’s Air Charter of Toowoomba in May was registered to them as VH-MCX on November 10. McCafferty’s Cessna 500 VH-ICX in turn was sold in July to a private owner in the Toowoomba area. Raytheon Hawker 800XP VH-ELJ was registered to BHP Australia Coal Ltd, of Brisbane on November 22 while Raytheon Hawker 800 N959H was noted at Coolangatta on November 19. BHP Australia Coal are reported to have leased its previously operated Learjet 35A VH-ELC to an Indonesian company. BAe 125-400F VH-PAB which was operated by Asia Pacific Air was sold in the United States in late October as N150SA. Beechjet 400A N8167Y was imported by the Australian Aviation College at Parafield in early September with the aircraft reportedly in the country on a three month trial basis. Cessna 500 VH-ZMD of Litmill P/L, of Cairns was sold in September to Pearson Aviation at Essendon. In turn Litmill has purchased Falcon 20E VH-HFJ from Australian Jet Charter.

Air Chathams Convair 580

Air Chathams have ordered a Convair 580 which is planned for delivery during January. Registered ZK-CIB the Convair 580 has been purchased from Kelowna Flightcraft in Canada and will be operated both as a passenger aircraft on Air Chathams flights to the Chatham Islands and on domestic night freight operations within New Zealand. The prospective ZK-CIB was originally built by Convair in 1953 as a model 340 msn 96 for Philippine Air Lines, although the order was cancelled before delivery. In July ’53 the Convair was delivered to the Union Producing Company as N8420H however in 1956 it was damaged in a fire at Shreveport, Louisiana. The aircraft was returned to the Convair production line at San Diego and there rebuilt as a model 440. It was also allocated a new manufacturer’s serial number which was 327A. Later registered N8444H the Convair 440 was again delivered to Union Producing. In March ’66 the Convair was sold to North Central Airlines who had the aircraft converted to a model 580 in May ’69. N8444H remained in service with North Central until July ’79 when they became part of Republic Airlines. The Convair 580 N8444H was sold by Republic in November ’83 to the Jay Dee Aircraft Supply Company. Over the following years N8444H was flown by a number of operators including a spell with Aeroquetzal in Guatemala as TG-MYM. In March ’92 the Convair returned to the US register as N8444H before being sold in May ’94 to Kelowna Flightcraft as C-FCIB.

Airline News

Air New Zealand has wet leased the Britannia Airways Boeing 767-204ER G-BRIG with the aircraft being delivered to Christchurch on November 1. G-BRIG entered service the following day and was to be operated on trans-Tasman routes by Air New Zealand until late December. Air New Zealand has also leased the LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767-35DER SP-LPA with the aircraft being delivered to Auckland on November 17. Mount Cook Airline/Air New Zealand Link took delivery of the first of seven ATR 72-210 aircraft on order at its Christchurch base on October 5. Contrary to our report in Traffic/November the first aircraft delivered to Mount Cook Airline was ZK-MCC msn 464 and not as stated. ATR 72-210 ZK-MCL msn 465 was delivered to Christchurch on October 26. First revenue service by a Mount Cook Airline ATR 72 was on October 15 when ZK-MCC flew the NM2710 from Christchurch to Rotorua. The remainder of the Mount Cook ATR 72 fleet is now known to be as follows – ZK-MCQ msn 453; ZK-MCS msn 454; ZK-MCW msn 458; ZK-MCX msn 460; ZK-MCY msn 463. National Jet Systems took delivery of BAe 146-300QT G-BTHT at its Adelaide base on November 28. Later registered VH-NJM the BAe 146-300QT entered service with Australian air Express in early December. During December National Jet added a BAe 146-100 and an RJ70 to its fleet. The BAe 146-100 VH-JSF msn E1160 has been leased from AMC to operate National Jet’s recently awarded Indian Ocean routes while the RJ70 G-OLXX will be utilised on its resources contract for Newcrest Mining between Perth and Telfer. BAe 146-200QT VH-NJQ terminated its lease to Australian air Express in early December and returned to Adelaide based operations, however it is reported that this aircraft may shortly return to the UK. The delivery of the BAe 146-300QT, BAe 146-100 and RJ70 to National Jet brings its fleet of this type to 15 as follows: BAe 146-100 (5) VH-JSF National Jet Systems; VH-NJC, -NJR, -NJY, -NJZ on lease to Airlink. BAe 146-100QT (1) VH-NJV on lease to Australian air Express. RJ70 (1) VH-NJ? National Jet Systems. BAe 146-200 (3) VH-NJG, -NJH, -NJJ on lease to Airlink. BAe 146-200QC (1) VH-NJQ National Jet Systems. BAe 146-300 (2) VH-NJL, -NJN on lease to Airlink. BAe 146-300QT (2) VH-NJF, -NJM on lease to Australian air Express. Qantas had planned to take delivery of its 20th Boeing 737-476, VH-TJX, during December however Boeing’s long running industrial dispute has delayed the arrival of the aircraft in Australia until the New Year. Meanwhile, Boeing 747-338 VH-EBU has been painted in an Aboriginal scheme and named ‘Nalanji Dreaming’. VH-EBU operated its first flight for Qantas in these colours on November 16 when it flew QF7501, a special charter to celebrate the 75th birthday of Qantas. VH-EBU departed Sydney shortly before 0700 and arrived back at 1239 after overflying Winton, Longreach, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sydney Harbour.

Freighter Fleet Update

Air Cargo Australia is a new name on the freight scene in Australia and it has come into being by leasing the Boeing 727-77F VH-TBS from Rothschild Aircraft. Air Cargo Australia in turn leased the Boeing to Australian air Express who will mainly utilise VH-TBS on its four times weekly return service between Perth and Melbourne. Australian air Express put the Boeing 727-77F, which carries its colours, into service on November 20 from Perth to Melbourne. VH-TBS was last operated by Premier Airlines on its trans-Tasman contract with DHL and had been hangared at Avalon since late March. The Boeing is no stranger to the Melbourne to Perth freight route as in April ’84 then registered C2-RN7 it commenced flying for TAA Cargo. Later registered VH-TBS in April ’87 the Boeing remained on the Melbourne to Perth route until August ’89 when it was grounded as a result of the pilots’ dispute. Ansett Air Freight Boeing 727-277F VH-RMX returned to service on October 12 when it operated AN6113 from Melbourne to Launceston. VH-RMX last flew with Ansett Air Freight in December ’94 and in the interim has undergone a major maintenance lay-up in Melbourne. Ansett Air Freight leased the Air Transport International DC-8-62F N51CX, which it previously shared with Australian air Express on the Perth to Melbourne route, until early December. Australian air Express terminated its lease on the Air Transport International DC-8-62F N51CX on November 16 after the aircraft operated the ATN2240 from Melbourne to Perth. BAe 146-300QT VH-NJM which Australian air Express has leased from National Jet Systems was planned to enter service in early December. On entry into service of VH-NJM Australian air Express terminated its lease on BAe 146-200QC VH-NJQ with the aircraft returning to National Jet. Charrak Air did not take delivery of its L-188CF Electra freighter as we surmised in Traffic/November. At the time of writing Charrak Air had planned to have the Electra in Australia during the course of this issue.

Bandeirante Fleet Update

Eagle Airways/Air New Zealand Link added two more Bandeirantes in this period to bring its fleet numbers of this type to nine. EMB-110P1s G-BLVG and G-OJAY flew into Hamilton on October 1 on termination of its ferry flight from Southend, England. The Bandeirantes were later registered ZK-DCH and ZK-NDC respectively before entering service with Eagle Airways. Tranzair took delivery of its fourth Bandeirante at Wellington on October 21 with the arrival of the former Skywest Aviation EMB-110P1 VH-LSE. Later registered ZK-REU the Bandeirante entered service with Tranzair, who operates their aircraft on behalf of Ansett New Zealand. Australian Jet Charter took delivery of Cessna 208B N13313 msn 0464 at its Sydney base on November 12. Imported as a stock aircraft the Cessna 208B was later registered VH-OZH. Another Cessna Caravan to arrive in the country in this period was Cessna 208FP 9M-FBA. Reported to be on delivery to an operator in SE Queensland 9M-FBA ferried into Archerfield from Charleville on November 23. Jetcraft planned to take delivery of DHC-7-102 VH-UUM in late December. The Dash 7, which is the first of its type on the Australian register, will be based in Cairns on a resources contract. VH-UUM msn 56, which was built in 1981, was delivered in July of that year to Ransome Airlines as N175RA. Later operators included PanAm Express and Trans World Express. National Jet Systems added the former Impulse Airlines Jetstream 41 VH-IMQ to its fleet in late October with the Jetstream mainly utilised on its Santos contract between Adelaide and Moomba. Associate company Surveillance Australia have taken delivery of its three Reims F406 Caravan II’s VH-ZZE, -ZZF and -ZZG with the aircraft to enter service on January 1. Skippers Aviation took delivery of its second and third Metro 23s in this period with the arrival at its Perth base of VH-WAJ msn DC-876B and VH-WAX msn DC-877B. VH-WAJ was first noted at Perth on November 15 while VH-WAX ferried from Majuro to Townsville on November 25. Talair DHC-6-300 P2-RDX departed Brisbane on October 27 on delivery to Mendikwae in Goroka, PNG. DHC-6-300 N910HD was noted in Cairns on October 17, however what this aircraft was doing in our part of the World had not been established at time of writing.