Traffic

Aus-Air EMB-110P1 Bandeirante VH-OZG was named City of Kingston at a ceremony held at Moorabbin Airport on June 15.

Cape York Air Cessna Caravan VH-CYC was named Sir Bob Norman at a ceremony held at Cairns Airport on May 29.

Executive Air Charter was being advertised for sale in the national press in mid June.

Flight West Airlines terminated services on the Brisbane to Maroochydore route as of June 1.

Impulse Airlines commenced Fokker 50 operations on June 21 with a twice weekly (Fri/Sun) service from Sydney to Cooma. The Fokker 50 operated by Impulse is wet leased from Ansett Australia with VH-FNE operating the first service. Meanwhile, Impulse has delayed the delivery flight of its sixth Beech 1900D VH-IMC msn UE-214 with the aircraft not now due in Australia until late July.

Kendell Airlines took delivery of Saab 340B N257PX at its Wagga base on June 14 after the aircraft completed its trans Pacific ferry flight from Nashville, Tennessee. Later registered VH-EKX the Saab 340B entered service with Kendell Airlines in early July.

Saab 340B VH-EKX msn 257 was originally delivered to Aer Lingus Commuter as EJ-CFD in August 91 and was operated by them until May 95 when it was withdrawn from service. The Saab was then painted in the markings of Northwest Airlink/Express Airlines before being ferried across the North Atlantic to Louisville, Kentucky the following month. Later registered N257PX the Saab 340B remained in service with Express Airlines until May 96 when it was withdrawn from service and flown to Nashville for storage.

Kendell Airlines took delivery of Skyways Saab 340B SE-KSK msn 229 at Wagga in early July after the aircraft ferried in from Linkoping, Sweden. The delivery of this Saab 340B, which was later registered VH-KDR, brings the Kendell Airlines Saab 340 fleet to 13 units (Saab 340A x 6, Saab 340B x 7). Kendell added the Sydney to Coffs Harbour route to its network from July 8 with the Sydney to Ballina route planned to come on line later in the month.

King Island Airlines has leased EMB-110P1 VH-XFO from Flight West Airlines with the all white Bandeirante being delivered to Moorabbin by May 29.

Pacific Interline has accepted an invitation from the NSW Air Transport Licensing Council to operate a service from Sydney to Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. Flights are expected to commence in August using Beech King Air 200 aircraft.

Phillip Island Airlines was being advertised for sale in the national press in late May.

Sabair commenced operations between Brisbane and Maroochydore from June 2.

Skywest Airlines withdrew Fokker 50 VH-FNI from service on June 28 with the aircraft then being ferried to Melbourne.

Sunstate Airlines plans to take delivery of Shorts 360-300 VH-SUL in late July and Shorts 360-300 VH-SUF in late November. The two Shorts 360-300 aircraft were last operated by Rheinland Air Service of Dusseldorf in Germany as D-CAAS and D-CBAS respectively.

Ansett Australia Fleet Update

Ansett Australia took delivery of Boeing 737-33A VH-CZS at Melbourne on May 29 after the aircraft ferried in from Christchurch as AN4294. VH-CZS is the 22nd of its type in the Ansett Australia fleet and entered service on June 2 when it operated AN1280 from Melbourne to Cairns.

On June 3 Ansett commenced a daily direct return service from Perth to Darwin using 737-300s, with the first flight being operated by VH-CZM. Also on June 3 the Boeing 737-33A was introduced onto the Perth to Kalgoorlie route with VH-CZM again operating the inaugural service.

Ansett Australia took delivery of Airbus A320-211 VH-HYY at Melbourne on June 26 while A320-211 VH-HYX was planned to arrive in Melbourne on July 4. Both aircraft, which have been leased from GATX Capital Corp, commenced their ferry flights to Melbourne at the Triad International Maintenance Corporation plant at Greensboro, North Carolina. Ferry routing from Greensboro to Melbourne was via San Diego, Honolulu and Nadi. The entry into service of VH-HYX and VH-HYY brings the Ansett A320 fleet to 15 units with a further four aircraft on order with delivery planned for 09/96, 10/96, 11/96 and 03/97.

Ansett took delivery of its ninth Boeing 767-200, VH-RMO, at Melbourne in mid July. As G-BNCW of Britannia Airways the Boeing 767-204 was ferried from Luton, England to Dothan, Alabama on May 20 for pre service maintenance by Pemco prior to its delivery to Ansett. Fokker F28-3000 VH-EWG which has been parked at Melbourne since March 16 returned to Ansett service on July 1.

Fokker 50 VH-FNC was withdrawn from Ansett service on June 29 after operating flight AN545 from Coffs Harbour to Sydney. The following day VH-FNC was ferried to Melbourne where it was prepared for delivery to Skyways, Sweden. Ansett Australia withdrew the Fokker 50 from the Sydney to Coffs Harbour route on July 7 and from the Sydney to Ballina route later in the month. On both routes the Ansett Fokker 50s have been replaced by Kendell Saab 340s. Ansett however continues to maintain a presence at both Coffs Harbour and Ballina with jet equipment though Saabs will also fly the latter route in due course.

Ansett International announced in June that it would add a fourth Boeing 747 to its fleet in late October. As with the three other Boeing 747-300s in the Ansett International fleet this aircraft would also be leased from Singapore Airlines. Also planned for delivery to Ansett International in early 97 is a second Boeing 767-300.

Ansett Worldwide Airbus A300-600R PK-GAO terminated its lease to Garuda Indonesia in June. After overhaul at the Airbus facility at Hamburg PK-GAO was registered VH-BWF with the aircraft then to be ferried either to Marana, Arizona or Avalon, Victoria for storage.

Airline News

Air New Zealand commenced its weekly trans Tasman ‘Snow Express’ ski flights on June 22 with direct flights from Brisbane and Sydney to Queenstown. On June 22 Boeing 737-219 ZK-NAX operated the NZ224 flight from Brisbane to Queenstown while Boeing 737-219 ZK-NAV operated the NZ222 from Sydney to Queenstown. Air New Zealand will operate these weekly direct flights until September 14.

Airlink BAe 146-100 VH-NJE was delivered to the National Jet Systems hangar at Adelaide on June 23 after completing its ferry flight from the UK. VH-NJE entered service with Airlink on June 23 when it operated the QF939 from Adelaide to Kalgoorlie.

Australia Asia Airlines’ two Boeing 747SP aircraft VH-EAA and VH-EAB have both been repainted in Qantas colours. VH-EAA returned to Qantas service on June 27 after being repainted. VH-EAB operated its last service in Australia Asia colours on June 30 when it flew the QF135/136 from Sydney to Taipei and return. Qantas now flies to Taiwan in its own right.

Freedom Air commenced a series of four weekly flights into Coolangatta from Hamilton on June 29. On the days that the Coolangatta flights were operating (June 29, July 6/13/20) Freedom Air leased the Polynesian Airlines Boeing 737-3Q8 5W-ILF to operate its other trans Tasman services.

Independent Air Freighters F27-600 VH-WAN which carries the titles ‘The West Australian’, was delivered from Essendon to Perth on May 24. Now contracted to Ansett Air Freight VH-WAN operates four nights a week (Mon-Thu) as AN6164/5 on the route Perth/Port Hedland/Karratha/Paraburdoo/Perth. VH-WAN flew its first scheduled service on the route on May 27.

Kiwi International Airlines took delivery of Boeing 737-3YO TF-ABK at its Christchurch base on June 29 after the aircraft ferried in from the UK via Darwin and Brisbane. The Boeing 737 which has been leased from Aviareps in the UK commenced operations with Kiwi on July 1 when it flew the KC007 from Christchurch to Sydney. The delivery and entry into service of TF-ABK saw Kiwi expand its network to include routes from Christchurch to Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Pacific Transair Boeing 737-291 N737RD departed Essendon on June 26 for Cairns on the first leg of its delivery flight to Air Philippines who are reported to have leased the aircraft for three months. During the weeks prior to its departure there was continued activity around N737RD at Essendon. On June 11 the Pacific Transair titles were removed from the fuselage of the Boeing however by June 19 they had been reapplied. Finally on June 21 the Pacific Transair titles were replaced by those of Air Philippines. It has also been reported that Pacific Transair has leased its other Boeing 737-291 N7375F to WestJet Airlines of Calgary, Canada.

Qantas took delivery of Boeing 767-338ER VH-OGP at Sydney on June 1 after the aircraft ferried in from Seattle and Nadi as QF8531. VH-OGP, which is the 16th of its type in the Qantas fleet, entered service on June 8 operating QF47 from Sydney to Wellington. Boeing 747-338 VH-EBW returned to Sydney on June 1 on termination of its lease to Garuda. VH-EBW, which carried the markings of Garuda Indonesia during its lease, originally departed Sydney for Jakarta on March 21.

Southern Australia Goes Jet

Southern Australia Airlines has announced that it will add two BAe 146-200 aircraft to its fleet in October and December 1996. The two BAe 146-200 aircraft have been leased from British Aerospace Asset Management Jets (AMJ) and will be operated by Southern Australia in a 76 seat Business and Economy class configuration. Southern Australia will utilise its BAe 146-200 aircraft on the Melbourne to Launceston and Launceston to Sydney routes.

On the Melbourne to Launceston route the Southern Australia BAe 146-200 will replace the previous mix of Qantas Boeing 737s and Southern Dash 8-100s. Southern will put its first BAe 146-200 into service on October 27 between Melbourne and Launceston with 30 return flights being operated weekly. The second BAe 146-200 will be used by Southern Australia to operate a twice daily return service from Launceston to Sydney.

Southern Australia has identified its BAe 146-200 aircraft as msn E-2097 and E-2107, both of which were 1988 production aircraft. E-2097 was initially delivered in April 88 to United Express carrier Westair Commuter as N461EA while E-2107 followed to the same operator in June 88 as N462EA. E-2097 continued in service with Westair Commuter until September 91 when the aircraft was withdrawn from service on termination of its lease. The aircraft was then leased in turn to Air Nova in Canada and Empire Airlines in the United States. Meanwhile E-2107 also saw service with Empire Airlines after its lease to Westair Commuter was terminated.

Currently both BAe 146-200s are operating with another United Express carrier, Air Wisconsin of Appleton, Wisconsin as N293UE and N294UE respectively.

Ferry Flights

Formosa Airlines PBN-2B-26 Islander B-12222 was noted at Cairns Airport on June 27 and is reported to be a candidate for the Australian register.

Gwydir Air accepted delivery of Ayres S2R-G10 Turbo Thrush N6135Y at its Moree base on June 20. The Ayres, which was later registered VH-WDD before delivery to an operator in South Australia, was ferried from Albany, Georgia to Moree by DBF Aviation Services of Sydney. On its ferry flight the Ayres made enroute stops at Midland in Texas, Santa Barbara, Honolulu, Tarawa, Honiara and Brisbane with the 8467nm (15,690km) ferry completed in eight days. Total flying time for the journey was 57.4 hours of which 41.2 hours was overwater between Santa Barbara and Brisbane.

Jetcraft took delivery of two Metro III aircraft in two days in late June to bring its operating fleet of Metroliners to 13 (Metro III x 9, Metro II x 4). First to arrive in Brisbane on June 22 was Metro III N686AV msn AC-686 and it was followed the next day by Metro III N38108X msn AC-517. Jetcraft has since registered the two Metro IIIs N686AV and N3108X as VH-UUN and VH-UUG respectively.

National Jet Systems EMB-110P2 VH-WBI was being advertised for sale by Aeromil in late June.

RFDS/Broken Hill imported two King Air B200 aircraft (N8254H msn BB-1416 and N773AM msn BB-1430) from the United States on June 27 when the aircraft arrived in Sydney on completion of their trans Pacific ferry flights. Both aircraft were then flown across to Bankstown where they will be modified to RFDS standard by Hawker Pacific.

Hawker Pacific themselves took delivery of King Air B200 N3261E msn BB-1529 in June with the aircraft later being demonstrated at the Indonesia Air Show in Jakarta. Planned for delivery to Hawker Pacific in July were King Air B200 N3252X msn BB-1532 and King Air B200 N10436 msn BB-1536. King Air 350 N1067S msn FL-137 was registered to Hawker Pacific of Sun Valley, California in April however this aircraft was later delivered direct to a company in the Philippines.

DHC-6-300 Twin Otter N720CA msn 507 ferried into Cairns from Honiara on June 26.

Surveillance Australia took delivery of its second and third Dash 8-202MPA aircraft during June with VH-ZZB first noted in Darwin on the 7th and VH-ZZC in Broome on the 20th.

Uzu Air has imported a Dornier 228-200, VH-URU msn 8162.

Pacific Island News

Air Caledonie International leased Boeing 737-376 VH-TJD from Qantas from late June until mid August while its own Boeing 737-33A F-ODGX was laid up for planned maintenance with Qantas in Melbourne.

Air Chathams took delivery of its long awaited Convair 580 C-FCIB at Auckland on May 26 after the aircraft ferried in from Kelowna, Canada via Honolulu and Pago Pago. Later registered ZK-CIB the Convair 580 entered passenger service with Air Chathams connecting Christchurch and Wellington with the Chatham Islands.

Air Nauru leased Boeing 737-4L7 VH-TJW from Qantas from June 4 through to 17 while its own Boeing 737-4L7 C2-RN10 was laid up for planned maintenance with Qantas in Melbourne.

Air Niugini has leased Fokker F28-4000 PH-RRA from Fokker Aircraft Financing & Trading. PH-RRA, which carries the full colour scheme of Air Niugini, was first noted at Cairns on June 19. PH-RRA was last operated by the South African airline Comair as ZS-NGB and has been in storage at Woensdrecht, Holland since early November ’95.

Mount Cook has disposed of three more of its BAe 748-2A fleet in this period. ZK-MCF ferried into Brisbane on May 28 and after night stopping continued to Mount Isa and Darwin the following day. ZK-MCP ferried into Brisbane on June 6 from Christchurch and Norfolk Island and it was followed on June 26 by ZK-MCJ. The departure of ZK-MCF, ZK-MCJ and ZK-MCP now leaves only two Mount Cook BAe 748-2As (ZK-CWJ and ZK-DES) in storage at Christchurch.

Heavy Metal

After starting this section in Traffic last issue it is great to see we have further material this month to keep it going.

Aerospatiale Caravelle 11R F-WQCV of Eureka Aviation departed Papeete on May 8 on ferry to a European destination. Previously operated by the French Air Force as serial 240 the Caravelle 11R staged through Apia, Port Vila and Port Moresby. On May 21 Caravelle 11R F-WQCT which was previously 264 with the French Air Force departed Papeete over the same ferry route as taken by F-WQCV.

Merpati Nusantara Airlines plans to commence a three times weekly return service using A310-300s between Jakarta and Melbourne from August 7. At the time of writing Merpati had contracted to lease Airbus A310-324 PK-MAX with a second aircraft being sourced. PK-MAX msn 542 was originally delivered to Pan American in June 90 as N824PA Clipper Golden Rule and continued in service with that airline until it ceased operations in December 91. N824PA then saw service with Delta Air Lines before it was placed in storage. In December 94 the A310-324 was registered to Caribjet as V2-LED however they in turn then leased the aircraft to Air India.

Boeing 737-54K JA8404 of ANK Air Nippon arrived at Avalon on June 19 for a period of crew training. Ferry routing taken by the Boeing 737-54K from Japan to Avalon was via Guam and Cairns.

Kendell Airlines took delivery of this Saab 340B in June. The aircraft was previously in service with Northwest Airlink and was based in Nashville Tennessee. This VIP configured DC-9 was spotted in Melbourne in late June. This aircraft was one of the first DC-9s built as part of the launch order from Delta. (Trent Jones & Brian Wilkes)

Boeing 777-21H A6-EMD of Emirates took the honour of being the first of its type to be introduced into commercial service flying to Australia. Emirates operated its inaugural flight into Melbourne on June 26 using the Boeing 777-21H A6-EMD as the EK068 from Dubai and Singapore.

MDC DC-9-14 N13FE, which is registered to Jerrold Perenchio of Van Nuys, California, visited a number of Australian airports in late June. N13FE’s claim to fame came in May 63 when it was part of the first order placed by an airline for the new Douglas DC-9 airliner. The airline concerned was Delta Air Lines who operated the prospective N13FE for a number of years as N3311L.

Pel-Air Aviation Learjet Deliveries

Pel-Air Aviation was recently awarded a five year target towing and radar calibration contract by the Department of Defence.

The contract, which commenced on July 1, has seen Pel-Air Aviation import up to six Learjet aircraft to be based at Nowra. At this writing Pel-Air imported four Learjet 35/36 aircraft as follows — Learjet 36 N200Y msn 36-014 arrived in Sydney on June 23 while Learjet 35A N17LH msn 35-428 was planned for delivery to Sydney on June 28. It is interesting to note that N17LH is the former VH-ELC, a Learjet 35A which was operated in Australia by Utah Development and BHP Australia Coal between September 81 and December 95. Learjet 36A N136ST msn 36-049 was planned for delivery to Sydney on June 30 while Learjet 35A N145GJ was planned for delivery to Pel-Air in mid July. Pel-Air Aviation has also brought Learjet 35 N39FN msn 35-006 to Australia with the aircraft first noted in Sydney on June 27 however the aircraft is planned to return to the United States in late July. N39FN is fitted with special Electronic Warfare equipment which has been demonstrated by Pel-Air to the Department of Defence.

Pel-Air has reserved the registrations VH-SLD, -SLE, -SLF and -SLJ for its four Learjet aircraft however when these registrations will be applied and in what order was not known at the time of writing. Pel-Air will also utilise its Westwind I VH-AJJ and Westwind II VH-NGA on the Defence contract, however these aircraft will be replaced at a later stage by further Learjets.

In late June National Jet Systems/Fleet Support, who previously operated the target towing contract, were advertising for sale through Aeromil Learjet 35As VH-FOX, -FSU, -FSY and -FSZ. Of the other aircraft used by Fleet Support, Learjet 35 VH-FSX will be retained by National Jet Systems while Learjet 35A VH-TPR has been returned to Owston Nominees in Sydney and they in turn were advertising the aircraft for sale in late June.

Three other bizjets which have recently become surplus to requirements are the Skywest Aviation Westwinds VH-LLW, -LLX and -LLY. On June 30 Skywest Aviation completed the last flight of its Coastwatch contract so it will be interesting to see what becomes of the three Westwind Seascan aircraft.

Other Bizjet news concerns McRoss Developments in Sydney which has purchased a Hawker 800XP to replace its Beechjet 400A. Hawker 800XP VH-LAW is planned for delivery to McRoss Developments in September.

Citation II ZS-LEE which was noted at Perth on June 11 is reported to be a candidate for the Australian register.

CitationJet VH-MOJ of Morgan & Company, Nedlands, WA ferried into Jandakot from Port Hedland on June 11 on termination of its delivery flight from the United States.

Finally Falcon 20F PK-CAG of the Indonesian Directorate of Civil Aviation was noted under overhaul in the Hawker Pacific hangar at Sydney in late June.

GAM Air Services Expands Fleet

GAM Air Services at Essendon has purchased four Commander 500S aircraft from Skywest Aviation together with its Cairns hangar facility and its subsidiary company Reef Watch Tourist Charters.

The four Commanders concerned are VH-ACJ, -ACL, -EXJ and -PAR of which all but VH-ACL are used by Reef Watch Tourist Charters. The purchase of the four Skywest Aviation Shrike Commanders now brings the General Aviation Maintenance operating fleet of Commander aircraft to 16 units as follows: Commander 500S: VH-ACJ, -ACL, -EXJ, -PAR, -UJI, -UJL, -UJM, -UJU, -UJX, -UJZ, -YJP, -YJR, -YJT; Commander 680FL VH-UJA; Commander 685 VH-UJR. GAM Air Services hangar at Essendon is an authorised Commander service centre and as well as maintaining its own fleet of aircraft GAM maintains Commander aircraft for operators throughout Australia.

Other Commander news concerns Commander 840 11667 of the Pakistan Army which was a very interesting arrival at Perth Airport on June 26. The Commander 840, which is one of two operated by the Pakistan Army, ferried into Perth from Port Hedland using callsign PA667. Eventual destination was the Hawker Pacific hangar at Jandakot where an overhaul was undertaken.