Traffic

Skywest Airlines withdrew Fokker 50 VH-FNH from service on January 27 after the aircraft operated flight 6580 from Perth to Carnarvon, Learmonth, and Perth. The following day, VH-FNH was ferried to Sydney where it rejoined the Ansett Australia fleet. The departure of VH-FNH now leaves Skywest Airlines operating Fokker 50s VH-FNA, VH-FNB, and VH-FND. Tamair Metro 23 VH-NEO, which was delivered to Tamworth on January 2, entered service on the Tamworth to Sydney route on February 16. Tamair has named VH-NEO “Tamworth Guardian – Lyall Green”. Tamair terminated its lease on Metro III VH-NEM, with the aircraft returning to Fairchild Aircraft. Fairchild in turn then leased VH-NEM to International Business Air of Karlshamn, Sweden. The Metro III, now registered SE-LEF, departed Tamworth for Darwin on February 20 on the first leg of its delivery flight to Sweden. On February 17, Metro III VH-NEK was ferried to Launceston where it entered service that day with Airlines of Tasmania. This was as a result of the Airlines of Tasmania Metro III VH-NEL being flown to Tamworth for planned maintenance.

Ansett Australia Fleet Additions

Ansett Australia announced on February 5 that it will add eight secondhand leased aircraft to its fleet over the coming months. Ansett Australia also currently has on order four Airbus A320-211s, and the delivery of these 12 aircraft would hasten the withdrawal from service of the remaining Boeing 727-200, Fokker F28, and Fokker 50 in the Ansett fleet. Details of the new and secondhand aircraft on order for Ansett Australia are as follows.

Boeing 767-324ER VH-BZF is planned for delivery to Melbourne in April with entry into service on Ansett International routes in June. Boeing 767-324ER msn 27569 was built on order for Continental Airlines and was allocated the registration N84905; however, with Continental cancelling its order before delivery, the Boeing was never delivered nor did it carry its assigned registration. The aircraft was then purchased by the leasing company GECAS (GE Capital Aviation Services) and was delivered to them in January ’96 shortly after it made its first flight.

Boeing 767-216ER VH-RMM is planned for delivery to Melbourne in late March. Boeing 767-216ER msn 24973 was built on order for the leasing company GATX Capital Corporation and was delivered to them in January ’91. The same month, GATX leased the Boeing to LAN Chile as CC-CEF. It is interesting to note that LAN Chile currently operates Boeing 767-284ERs CC-CDH, CC-CDJ and Boeing 767-33AER CC-CEU on lease from Ansett Worldwide; however, the AWAS Boeing 767 fleet is powered by Pratt & Whitney engines while the Ansett Australia Boeing 767 fleet is powered by General Electric powerplants.

Boeing 767-204 VH-RMO is planned for delivery to Melbourne in June. Boeing 767-204 msn 23807 was built on order for ILFC and was delivered to them in August ’87. The same month, ILFC leased the Boeing 767 to Britannia Airways as G-BNCW. Ansett plans to add a second Boeing 767-300 and a 10th Boeing 767-200 to its fleet; however, at the time of writing, these aircraft had not been sourced.

Airbus A320-211 VH-HYX is planned for delivery to Melbourne in May. AI A320-211 msn 288 was built on order for GATX Capital Corporation and was delivered in April ’92. The following month, the aircraft was leased to Onur Air of Istanbul as TC-ONA. Onur Air commenced operations in May ’92 with TC-ONA its first aircraft.

Airbus A320-211 VH-HYY is planned for delivery to Melbourne in June. AI A320-211 msn 331 was built on order for GATX Capital Corporation and was delivered to them in July ’92. The same month, the aircraft was leased to Onur Air as TC-ONB.

Airbus A320-211s VH-HYQ, -HYR, -HYS, and -HYT are currently on order from Airbus with delivery planned for October, November, December ’96 and April ’97.

Boeing 737-33A VH-CZS is planned for delivery to Melbourne in May. Boeing 737-33A msn 24030 was built on order for Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services and was delivered in January ’89. The same month, the aircraft was leased to British Midland Airways as G-OBMC. In January ’94, British Midland terminated its lease on G-OBMC with the aircraft then being leased to TAESA of Mexico City as XA-SGJ.

Ansett Australia added Jakarta to its network from February 16 with the commencement of a twice-weekly Boeing 747-300 service. The inaugural AN869/868, which is routed from Sydney to Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur and return, was operated by Boeing 747-312 VH-INJ. With the introduction of the Boeing 767-300 into operation in June, Ansett will increase the frequency of this service to four return flights weekly.

To cover planned maintenance on Boeing 747-312 VH-INJ, which was carried out by Singapore Airlines in Singapore, Ansett Australia leased Boeing 747-312 N125KL from Singapore Airlines. N125KL operated its first flight for Ansett on January 28 as AN823 from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney and its final service on February 11 as AN822 from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur.

As part of a route proving programme with Boeing, this Cathay Pacific 777 operated a number of flights to Australian ports as well as throughout Asia in mid-February prior to the type’s service entry with the airline. The 777 is pictured here on approach to Melbourne. Both Cathay Pacific and Malaysia Airlines operate the 777’s major rival, the Airbus A330, into Australia on regular services. Here Cathay and MAS A330s share ramp space at Perth. (Brian Wilkes & Dave Fraser)

Ansett Australia withdrew Fokker 50 VH-FNF from service on January 29 after it operated AN535 from Ballina to Sydney. On January 31, VH-FNF was ferried to Melbourne where its Ansett markings were removed. VH-FNF departed Melbourne for Alice Springs in late February on the first leg of its delivery flight to Skyways of Linkoping, Sweden. Replacing VH-FNF in the Ansett Australia fleet was Fokker 50 VH-FNH which ferried into Sydney from Perth on January 28 after its transfer from Skywest Airlines service. On January 31, VH-FNH operated AN237 from Sydney to Canberra for Ansett Australia.

Bizjet News

Hawker 800XP VH-ELJ, which has been purchased by BHP Australia Coal, ferried into Brisbane on January 22 on completion of its trans-Pacific delivery flight.

BAe 125-700B VH-LYG msn 257001 was delivered to Orient Pacific Air in Sydney in mid-February. The BAe 125-700B was imported from the United States where it last operated with LET Enterprises of Florida as N97TS. Also of note is that the first and last production BAe 125-700s are now registered in Australia. VH-LYG msn 257001 was the first of 215 BAe 125-700s built while VH-HSP msn 257215, which is based at Essendon with the Coles Myer Group, was the last.

BAe 125-700 VH-JFT of AirServices Australia departed Essendon on December 20 for the UK and onwards delivery to a new owner in the United States. The former VH-JFT has since been registered N395RD to the Cheyenne Management Corporation of Sterling Heights, Illinois.

Learjet 35A VH-ELC, which was previously operated by BHP Australia Coal, was cancelled from the Australian register on December 14 on its sale to Orion Aircraft Sales Inc. of Stuart, Florida. On January 15, the Learjet, now registered N17LH, departed Sydney for Christchurch on the first leg of its ferry flight to the United States.

Learjet 35A VH-JCR msn 35-231 was planned for delivery to Jet City, Melbourne in March. Previously operated in the United States as N62DK, the Learjet 35A will replace Learjet 24 VH-BSJ in the Jet City fleet. Aeromil, who was responsible for sourcing the Learjet 35A VH-JCR for Jet City, is presently advertising the Learjet 24 VH-BSJ for sale.

Beechjet 400A VH-BJD of McRoss Developments, Sydney has changed its registration to VH-LAW.

Beechjet 400A N8167Y msn RK-67, which was delivered to the Australian Flying College at Parafield last September, completed its evaluation in early December. The Beechjet was then flown to Bankstown in early December before appearing at the Singapore Airshow. It is reported, however, that the Beechjet will remain in Australia for the foreseeable future.

Falcon 2000 N2004 was noted at a number of Australian airfields during February. The Falcon 2000, which was the first of its type in the country, appeared at the Singapore Airshow and was brought to Australia by the local Falcon Jet Corporation agents Peter Taylor Aircraft Sales of Brisbane.

Onslow-based Pearl Coast Airways will import the first Cessna 525 CitationJet into Australia in May.

Airline News

Airlink will add Paraburdoo to its network from March 31 with a twice-daily Monday/Friday and single return Saturday/Sunday service from Perth using BAe 146-100s. To maintain this schedule, Airlink will lease a fifth BAe 146-100 from National Jet Systems in Adelaide with the aircraft msn E-1104 planned for delivery in early May. BAe 146-100 msn E-1104 first flew in January ’89 before being delivered the following December to Thai International as HS-TBO. In December ’91, HS-TBO returned to the UK as G-BTXO with Trident Leasing. In November ’92, the BAe 146-100 was leased to Aerosur Bolivia as CP-2247 and they operated the aircraft until May ’95 when it returned to the UK where it was placed in storage at Cambridge.

Ansett Worldwide Boeing 757-23APF VH-AWE terminated its lease to Gulf Air at the end of February and the following month entered service with Challenge Air Cargo of Miami, Florida. To date, VH-AWE has been the only Boeing 757 registered in Australia; however, it is expected that when the Boeing 757 enters service with Challenge, its Australian registration will be cancelled with the aircraft then becoming N574CA. This particular Boeing 757 was originally delivered to Ansett Worldwide in January ’90 for lease to Transbrasil as PT-TDA; however, before delivery the lease was cancelled. In October ’90, the Boeing was leased to Zambia Airways as 9J-AFO. On October 2, ’93, 9J-AFO arrived in Melbourne on termination of its lease to Zambia Airways and was later registered VH-AWE. The Boeing remained in Melbourne until December 29 when it departed for Sydney on the first leg of its delivery flight to Gulf Air.

Ansett Worldwide took delivery of Boeing 737-33A B-2966 on January 25 and leased the aircraft the same day to China Yunnan Airlines.

Pacific Air Freighters’ Douglas DC-4 N9013V was placed on the Australian register on January 31 as VH-PAF. The DC-4 was delivered to Pacific Air Freighters at Archerfield on June 16 last year. On February 10, VH-PAF was noted training at both Archerfield and Eagle Farm, while on February 16, the DC-4 operated its first revenue flight for Pacific Air Freighters under its new markings when it flew from Eagle Farm to Honiara. With the aircraft now registered in Australia, it is expected that we will see a lot more of the DC-4 in the South Pacific.

Qantas Boeing 737-476 VH-TJX, which was originally planned for delivery before Christmas, finally arrived in Melbourne in late February. Completion of VH-TJX was delayed as a result of a stoppage at the Boeing factory in Seattle. Qantas have on order two more Boeing 737-476s for delivery this year with VH-TJY scheduled to arrive in April and VH-TJZ in November. The addition of VH-TJX, -TJY, and -TJZ to the Qantas fleet will bring to 38 (16 dash 300s and 22 dash 400s) the total number of Boeing 737s in QF service. During 1996, Qantas will also take delivery of two Boeing 767-338ERs with VH-OGP due in May and VH-OGQ in August. The addition of VH-OGP and VH-OGQ to the Qantas fleet will bring to 24 (seven dash 238s and 17 dash 338s) the total number of Boeing 767s in service.

Twin Otter Fleet Updated

DHC-6-300 P2-MBM msn 729 entered service with Milne Bay Air in January and this is the aircraft that we mentioned in Traffic/March as ferrying from Denpasar to Port Moresby on January 6 as C-FWQF. DHC-6-300 msn 729 was a 1980 production aircraft that has spent a large part of its life operating in the frozen wastelands of Northern Canada. As C-GPAZ, the Twin Otter was delivered in December ’80 to Pan Arctic Oils of Calgary, while in 1987, Pan Arctic sold C-GPAZ to Ptarmigan Airways of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territory. In November ’89, the Twin Otter was sold to Alberta Aircraft Leasing of Las Vegas. Initially, the Twin Otter was registered N722CA; however, in September ’95, Alberta Leasing changed this to C-FWQF.

DHC-6-300 P2-MBA msn 353 also entered service with Milne Bay Air during January with the aircraft being delivered to Port Moresby earlier that month as C-FWAX. DHC-6-300 msn 353 was a 1973 production aircraft that was delivered in March of that year to Wideroes Flyveselskap of Norway as LN-BNX. Apart from a short-term lease in 1988 to Loganair in Scotland, the Twin Otter remained with Wideroes until sold in July ’95 to Ashe Aircraft Enterprises of Calgary as C-FWAX.

DHC-6-300 P2-MMU of Goroka Air Services was noted at Cairns during January. This aircraft is the former Talair Twin Otter P2-RDX msn 250 which we reported as being sold to Mendikwae of Goroka in October ’95.

DHC-6-300 VH-NTO was delivered to Northern Territory Air Services at its Darwin base in early February. DHC-6-300 msn 371 was a 1973 production aircraft that was sold in July of that year to Crownair of Sweden as SE-GEA. In October ’85, the Twin Otter was sold to TAT, France as F-GFAG, while in May ’91, the aircraft was sold to Alberta Aircraft Leasing as C-FKKV. In January ’92, the Twin Otter was sold to Vestfly Air Services of Norway as LN-FAP before later joining the fleet of Coast Air, still registered LN-FAP.

DHC-6-100 N950SM msn 90, which was on delivery to the Sydney Skydiving Centre, ferried into Sydney from Norfolk Island on December 22 and not the date recorded in Traffic/March.

GAF N24A VH-DHR, which was previously operated by Skywest Aviation on behalf of the Northern Territory Medical Service, departed Darwin in January on delivery to a new owner in the United States.

Commander 500O VH-EPM departed Brisbane on January 26 for Nadi with its eventual destination being Canada. The Commander had been operated by Skywest Aviation and was sold at auction at Bankstown in November ’95.

Pacific Island News

Air Marshall Islands’ second Saab 2000 SE-028 msn 028, which is the prospective V7-9509, was displayed at the Singapore Airshow in early February. At the conclusion of the Singapore show, it was originally planned that the Saab 2000 would be demonstrated in Australia before being delivered to Air Marshall Islands. SE-028 was instead demonstrated in Japan and China before returning to Linkoping in preparation for lease to the French operator Region Air. Air Marshall Islands is not now planning to take delivery of its second Saab 2000 until November ’96.

Ansett New Zealand took delivery of Dash 8 ZK-NET at Christchurch on February 1 after the aircraft ferried in from Tamworth via Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island, while Dash 8 ZK-NES was planned for delivery from Tamworth to Christchurch on March 31. Dash 8 ZK-NEW departed Christchurch for Brisbane via Auckland and Norfolk Island on February 8 on termination of its lease from Flight West Airlines. Ansett New Zealand will commence DHC-8 operations between Wellington and Hamilton on April 14 with up to four return services being flown daily.

Mount Cook Airline took delivery of two more ATR 72-210s in this period, thus completing its order for seven. ZK-MCX arrived in Christchurch from Sydney on January 18 and it was followed by ZK-MCY on February 9. During its delivery flight from Toulouse to Christchurch, ZK-MCY was displayed at the Singapore Airshow. Mount Cook has withdrawn from service BAe 748-2B ZK-MCB, with the all-white aircraft noted ferrying through Brisbane on February 9. Cessna A185E ZK-DYH was added to the Mount Cook fleet in December.

Soundsair Cessna 208 ZK-SFA was written off on January 29 when it crashed into Mt. Robertson near Picton while operating a service from Wellington to Koromiko.