Traffic

Northwest withdrew N129US from service on December 18 1969 and the following month sold the Electra to International Skyways who registered the aircraft N777DP. In October 1971 the Electra was sold to Pignatari SA of Rio De Janeiro, as PT-DZK, who operated the aircraft in an executive configuration for the Pignatari Industrial conglomerate. In February 1976 PT-DZK returned to the United States on its sale to Omni Aircraft Sales. Now registered N8LG the Electra was leased in January ’77 to the US religious group Cathedral of Tomorrow. In June ’77 N8LG visited Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney as part of a world tour by the Cathedral of Tomorrow. Over the following years N8LG was leased to a number of companies before being sold in April ’85 to TPI International Airways of Miami.

In July of that year TPI had the aircraft converted to an L-188CF and at the same time changed its registration to N360Q. In June ’89 N360Q was leased to Air Bridge Carriers in the UK and in November came another registration change to N360WS. In April ’92 the Electra was purchased by its present owners, the JBQ Aviation Corporation of Miami and the following December it reverted again to N360Q. Over the last few years N360Q has mainly operated on lease to a number of UK freight operators including Channel Express in August ’93, Air Atlantique in November ’93 and Hunting Cargo/DHL in September ’94.

It is also worthy of mention that JBQ Aviation is the current owner of four Lockheed Electras that have had previous Australian connections in VH-RMA and VH-RMB of Ansett, VH-IOB of Indian Ocean Airlines and VH-ECA of Qantas. With JBQ Aviation the aircraft are registered N356Q, N358Q, N351Q and N359Q respectively.

Airline News

Air New Zealand has taken a three year lease on a Boeing 767-300ER from C Itoh Aerospace Finance with the aircraft being delivered to its Auckland base in mid April. Since registered ZK-NCM, Boeing 767-35ER msn 26389 was originally delivered to C Itoh Aerospace Finance in October ’92 before being leased the same month to China Southern Airlines of Guangzhou as N800CZ.

ZK-NCM is the first international aircraft in the Air New Zealand fleet to carry the new ‘Pacific Wave’ colour scheme. Launch day for the new livery was April 29 with ZK-NCM and a Boeing 737-200 being presented in the new colours.

Air New Zealand has terminated its lease on the LOT/Poland Boeing 767-35ER SP-LPA with the aircraft departing Auckland on April 6. SP-LPA was originally delivered to Air New Zealand on November 17 ’95 with the aircraft entering service the following day. Meanwhile ANZ has leased Boeing 737-2Y5 ZK-NAH to Air Malta with the aircraft departing Christchurch on March 28 for Brisbane and Darwin.

Air Pacific leased a Boeing 737-376 from Qantas on two occasions in March to cover planned maintenance on its own Boeing 737 fleet. Boeing 737-376 VH-TJD operated a Brisbane/Nadi/Brisbane flight on March 3/4 while the same aircraft operated a Brisbane/Nadi/Auckland and return flight on March 17/18.

Freedom Air International took delivery of Boeing 737-3S1 N371TA at Hamilton on April 22. The Boeing has been wet leased from TACA International of El Salvador. It will be operated in a 137 economy class configuration and entered service with Freedom Air on April 27. Boeing 737-3S1 N371TA was built on order for TACA International and was delivered in July ’90. With the delivery and entry into service of the TACA Boeing 737-3S1 Freedom Air returned Boeing 757-204 G-BYAF to Britannia Airways on termination of its lease. Boeing 757-204 G-BYAF was delivered to Freedom Air in Auckland on December 4 and was planned to depart New Zealand on April 27 on its return to the UK.

Kiwi International Airlines has terminated its lease on Boeing 757-2YO G-OOOU with the aircraft planned to depart Hamilton on its return to Air 2000 on May 2. With the departure of the Boeing 757, Kiwi International leased Boeing 737-4L7 C2-RN10 from Air Nauru, however during May operations were reduced to four days a week, Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon. On a more permanent basis Kiwi International will take delivery in late May of a leased Airbus A320-211 from ORIX with the aircraft to be crewed by Region Air of Singapore. A320, which will be based in Hamilton, will operate in a 180 seat economy class configuration. Also due for delivery to Kiwi in early June is a Boeing 737-300 which will be leased from Aviareps. From July 1 Kiwi will open a Christchurch base with the 737-300 and at the same time will add a number of new routes to their network. From Christchurch, flights will be operated to Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Also from July 1 Kiwi will use its A320 to connect Hamilton with Melbourne and Perth.

Pacific Transair Boeing 737-291 N737RD ferried into Sydney on March 25 from Honolulu and Pago Pago. N737RD then remained on the ground at Sydney until April 19 when it was ferried south to Essendon for maintenance requirements. At time of writing no start up date had been given.

Qantas took delivery of its 21st Boeing 737-400 at Melbourne on April 16 when VH-TJY ferried in from Seattle/Boeing Field via Honolulu, Apia and Nadi as QF6903. VH-TJY, which was later named Integrity, entered service with Qantas on April 22 when it operated flight QF605 from Melbourne to Adelaide and Darwin.

Ansett Fleet Update

Ansett Australia took delivery of Boeing 767-324ER VH-BZF at Melbourne on March 27 after the aircraft ferried in as AN4290 from Seattle/Paine Field via Hilo. VH-BZF, which was delivered to Melbourne in an all white colour scheme, was due to enter service with Ansett International on May 6 operating a four times weekly return service (Mon/Tue/Fri/Sat) from Sydney to Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. Boeing 767-216 VH-RMM was delivered to Ansett in Melbourne on April 6 after the aircraft ferried in from Dothan, Alabama via Hilo as AN4294. VH-RMM operated its first revenue flight for Ansett on April 8 as AN20 from Melbourne to Sydney.

Ansett took delivery of its 22nd Boeing 737-300 at Melbourne in mid May when Boeing 737-33A VH-CZS, which has been leased from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services, ferried in from Christchurch. Prior to its delivery to Ansett VH-CZS was operated by the Mexican airline TAESA as XA-SGJ. Before departure from Mexico the TAESA markings were removed from the fuselage of the Boeing though the tail colours of the Mexican airline were retained. On April 3 the Boeing, now registered VH-CZS, departed Mexico City on ferry to Christchurch via San Diego/Brown Field, San Diego/Lindbergh Field, Hilo and Apia. On its arrival in Christchurch on April 5 VH-CZS was prepared for Ansett service by Air New Zealand maintenance.

Ansett has sold F28-1000 VH-FKC to Canadian Regional Airlines of Calgary, Alberta. VH-FKC had been stored in Melbourne since October ’95 and had all Ansett titles and livery removed before its departure for Saskatoon, Canada on April 12. Normally aircraft ferrying to North America from Australia either island hop across the Pacific or take the longer ferry route through India, Europe and the North Atlantic. VH-FKC however took a different ferry route which took it north from Australia and around the Pacific rim to Alaska. From Melbourne to Saskatoon VH-FKC ferried via Alice Springs, Darwin, Manado, Manila, Taipei, Sendai, Sapporo, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Anadyr, Anchorage and Edmonton.

Ansett continues to juggle its Fokker 50 aircraft around the country. On March 31 VH-FNC was ferried from Sydney to Perth where the aircraft operated with Skywest until mid May before again returning to Sydney. Fokker 50 VH-FNH was withdrawn from Ansett Australia service on April 1 after operating the AN541 from Coffs Harbour to Sydney. Later that day the aircraft was ferried to Melbourne for maintenance before being delivered to Skywest Airlines later in the month.

From March 31 Kendell Airlines Saab 340Bs replaced the Ansett Fokker 50s on the Canberra to Sydney route. Since then Ansett only schedule Fokker 50s to operate a twice daily service between Sydney and Coffs Harbour and between Sydney and Ballina. Economically this must be an expensive exercise for Ansett so the withdrawal of the last Fokker 50 from service cannot be too far away.

Ansett Australia terminated services to Paraburdoo on March 30 with Fokker F28-4000 VH-FKI operating the last scheduled flight, the AN330/331 from Perth to Paraburdoo and return.

Ansett Worldwide Boeing 767-284ER CC-CDH terminated its lease to LAN Chile in April with the aircraft then being leased in May to Aeromexico. Boeing 757-23APF VH-AWE terminated its lease to Gulf Air in late April with the aircraft then being wet leased to DHL Worldwide Express. VH-AWE is the first of its type in the DHL fleet and will be based in Bahrain and will operate predominately on the Bahrain to Brussels route.

Two interesting USN aircraft flew into Sydney recently. (left) This is a rarely seen VP-3B Orion from North Island Naval Air Station in California. (right) A C-20G operational support aircraft from Andrews AFB. USN C-20Gs are used for special transport and freight duties. Based on the Gulfstream IV business jet, there are only four C-20Gs in USN service. (John Ruming) 74 Australian Aviation June 1996

(left) Lockheed Jetstars are rarely seen in Australia, this aircraft was photographed at Brisbane Airport recently and belongs to US evangelist Ken Copeland. (right) This Indonesian registered Boeing 727 was in Melbourne carrying a number of high flying gamblers to Melbourne’s casino recently. (Richard Hall & Steve Allsopp)

Boeing 737-33A 9M-CHG was noted at Brisbane on March 29 while operating a VIP flight for the Malaysian Government. This particular Boeing 737-300 was delivered to Ansett Worldwide in September ’95 as 9M-LKY before being sold the same month to the Country Heights Golf Resort in Kuala Lumpur. The registration of the Boeing was recently changed from 9M-LKY to 9M-CHG to better reflect the new owner.

Regional Airline News

Air Kangaroo Island is reported to have ceased flying in late February. This was as a result of the Shorts 330 VH-HUS which it was operating being returned to Chartair in Alice Springs.

Air Tiwi, a division of Chartair in Alice Springs, commenced operations on April 22 from Darwin to Bathurst and Melville Islands using Shorts 330 VH-HUS.

Airnorth Regional sold Cessna 402C VH-PVU to Darwin based Anindilyakwa Air in early April.

Flight West Airlines sold DHC-6-300 Twin Otter VH-FNT to a New Zealand operator in February. Flight West will commence direct flights between Brisbane and Newcastle from June 9. Services to coastal ports between Brisbane and Newcastle are expected to follow. As a result of a disagreement with Ansett over the hosting of these flights in the Ansett reservations system Flight West and Ansett will part company in early August.

Impulse Airlines took delivery of its sixth Beech 1900D in mid April with the delivery to its Sydney base of VH-AFR. Impulse terminated services from Sydney to Glen Innes and Inverell on April 30.

Skywest Airlines added a fourth Fokker 50 to its fleet from April 1 though the composition of the aircraft concerned was initially clouded due to maintenance requirements on other Fokker 50 aircraft. The fourth Fokker 50 for Skywest is VH-FNH, however due to planned maintenance VH-FNH was not delivered to Perth until late April. In the interim Fokker 50 VH-FNC was ferried from Sydney to Perth on March 31 with the aircraft operating its first flight for Skywest on April 1 as the YT6591 from Perth to Mt Keith and Leonora. VH-FNC was planned to remain with Skywest until mid May when it would return to Ansett Australia service out of Sydney. With the delivery of VH-FNH, Skywest’s Fokker 50 fleet now consists of VH-FNA, -FNB, -FND and -FNH.

Tamair was awarded the Sydney to Glen Innes and Inverell route in April by the NSW Air Transport Council. Operations commenced on May 1 with a twice daily Metro III service.

Bizjet News

Gulfstream IV N823GA was noted at Melbourne/Essendon on April 11 with the aircraft reported to be on delivery to the Melbourne based Pratt Group. N823GA msn 1005 is an early production Gulfstream IV which first flew in 1986 as N17582. In July ’87 the aircraft was placed on the Bermudan register as VR-BJZ with Caxton Ltd and it remained with that company until August ’93 when it returned to Gulfstream Aerospace as N823GA. In June ’94 N823GA was delivered to Shako Air International of Reno, Nevada.

The delivery of N823GA brings the Australian based Gulfstream fleet to five: Gulfstream IV VH-ASQ with Associated Airlines at Essendon; Gulfstream IV VH-CCC with the Crown Casino at Tullamarine; Gulfstream IV VH-NCP with News Ltd in Sydney; Gulfstream IV N823GA with the Pratt Group at Essendon; and Gulfstream III N166WC with Premier Investments at Tullamarine.

While on the subject of Gulfstreams it gives me a chance to mention an aircraft with apparent Australian connections but one that to my knowledge hasn’t yet been seen in the country. The aircraft concerned is Gulfstream III N750SW which was purchased by Safeway Australia Holdings Inc, California in March ’95.

BAe 125-700B VH-HSP which was previously operated by the Coles Myer Group departed Essendon on April 2 on delivery to Oberoi Hotels International in New Delhi.

Learjet 35A N62DK which is the prospective VH-JCR ferried into Maroochydore from Pago Pago and Brisbane on March 7. The Learjet was imported by Aeromil for Jet City in Melbourne.

Cessna Citation III VH-OZI which is operated by Australian Jet Charter on contract to Shell Oil out of Sakhalin, Russia will reportedly be sold in the United States after being replaced by a Jetstream 31. VH-OZI was registered in Australia in September ’92 however to my knowledge the aircraft has only visited this country once and that was in August ’95 when it was ferried to Sydney where Australian Jet Charter carried out planned maintenance on the aircraft. Australian Jet Charter will reportedly replace the Citation on contract with Jetstream 31 N668SA. Though the Jetstream 31 will be placed on the Australian register it will probably be just as elusive to photograph as its predecessor.

Freight News

Independent Air Freighters took delivery of the former Tranzair Fokker F27-600 ZK-RTA at its Essendon base on March 31 after the aircraft ferried in from Norfolk Island and Coffs Harbour. Independent Air Freighters will base the Friendship in Perth with the aircraft planned to enter service with Ansett Air Freight in mid May.

International Air Parts has been advertising for sale the BAe 748-2Bs VH-IMI and VH-IMK. The two aircraft have been in storage at Adelaide since being withdrawn from freight service by Impulse Airlines in July ’95. International Air Parts Fokker F27-600 Friendship VH-TQT which we mentioned in Traffic/May had still not been delivered to MBA in Port Moresby as of late April.

Premier Airlines was planning to lease a Boeing 727-200 from DHL in the Philippines during late May. This was to cover the downtime on their own Boeing 727-2J4F VH-DHE which was scheduled for maintenance at Avalon from May 18 through 28. Since completing our annual Major Airline Directory (May issue) Premier Airlines has advised a change of address to PO Box 3017, Tullamarine, 3004. (03) 9379 9888. Fax (03) 9379 2955.

Ferry Flights

Jayrow Helicopters terminated its lease on the Frontier Helicopters Bell 205A-1 C-GXLF in late March. The Bell was noted at Moorabbin on April 2 being prepared for shipment back to Canada.

Royal Flying Doctor Service Pilatus PC-12 VH-FMZ was delivered to its Adelaide base on April 10.

Skywest Aviation has been placed on the market by Ansett. The sale of the Skywest fleet continues with GAF N-24A Nomad VH-DHO ferrying out of Darwin on March 28 enroute to New Zealand where the aircraft is now operating with Air Adventures of Parakai. N-24A Nomad VH-DHF has reportedly been sold to Nationwide Helicopters at Ardmore though the aircraft was still static at Darwin as of late April.

This ex Air New Zealand 737-200 was seen in Brisbane recently on a stopover bound for its new life with Air Malta. The livery seems to have been only half completed before the journey commenced. (John Rodger) 76 Australian Aviation June 1996

Twin Otters VH-USW and VH-XSW were noted parked at Perth Airport in mid April while awaiting sale.

Slingair took delivery of Cessna Grand Caravan 208B VH-KSA at its Kununurra base on April 17. Earlier the Cessna 208B then registered N6302B ferried into Sydney from Pago Pago and Norfolk Island on March 17. VH-KSA was imported into Australia by the Cessna Caravan agents Australian Jet Charter.

Surveillance Australia took delivery of its first Dash 8-202MPA VH-ZZA at Adelaide on April 13.

Great Western Aviation was reportedly planning to add a Beech 1900C to its Perth based charter fleet in May.

Island Air Gold Coast BN-2A-21 VH-HIA was destroyed on April 7 after the aircraft crashed into the surf at Currumbin Beach while inbound to Coolangatta from Moreton Island. The pilot and nine Japanese tourists on board the aircraft were pulled clear of the wreckage.

Pacific Island News

Air New Zealand Link/Mount Cook Airline has added BK117A-1 ZK-HAW and BK117B-1 ZK-HBK to its fleet. While the two aircraft were modified to Mount Cook standard BK117A-4 ZK-HLU was operated on lease from Airwork (NZ).

Ansett New Zealand Regional has combined the operations of former Ansett New Zealand regional affiliates Tranzair and Northern Commuter Airlines. Ansett New Zealand Regional operates the Tranzair Bandeirante ZK-REV, -REW and -REZ and the Northern Commuter Chieftain ZK-NCA.

Great Barrier Airlines added DHC-6-100 Twin Otter ZK-FQK to its fleet on March 21. The Twin Otter was previously operated by Air Fiji as DQ-FDK. Great Barrier also added the BN-2A-27 Islander ZK-CRA to its fleet in March.