Traffic

The withdrawal from service of VH-OJL reduces the operational Qantas 747-400 fleet to 13 units, these being 747-438ERs VH‑OEE, OEF, OEG, OEH, OEI and OEJ; 747-48E VH-OEB; and 747-438s VH-OJA, OJI, OJM, OJS, OJT and OJU.

VH-OEJ now carries special markings in support of the Socceroos in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It entered service as such on May 28 when it operated QF27 from Sydney to Santiago.

747-438 VH-OJC, which had been parked at Victorville since March 12 ’14, was cancelled from the register on May 6 as ‘aircraft sold and parted out’.

747-438 VH-OJD, which had been parked at Victorville since March 7 ’13, was cancelled from the register on May 6 as ‘aircraft sold and parted out’.

A330-202 VH-EBS ferried out of Brisbane on May 13 as QF6005 to Singapore for planned maintenance. On completion it departed Singapore on May 30 on ferry to Sydney as QF6006 (arriving May 31).

737-838 VH-XZL, which was registered to Qantas on March 18, was planned for delivery in late July.

QantasLink placed 717-2BL VH-YQW The Tassie Devil into service on June 1 when the aircraft operated QF1501 from Melbourne to Hobart. VH-YQW carries ‘Discover Tasmania’ markings and a Tasmanian devil on its fuselage.

VH-YQW, which was delivered to Adelaide on April 16 (Traffic/June), was the last of its type currently on order for QantasLink. Its entry intoservice takes the 717 fleet to 18: VH-NXD, NXE, NXG, NXH, NXI, NXJ, NXK, NXL, NXM, NXN, NXO, NXQ, NXR, YQS, YQT, YQU, YQV and YQW.

Jetstar registered 787‑8s VH‑VKF msn 36231 and VH‑VKG msn 36232 on May 16. At the end of May neither aircraft had yet made its maiden flight from Paine Field.

A320-232 VH-VGF as JQ7991 departed Melbourne on May 8 for Darwin and Seletar where it was painted in a special colour scheme to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Jetstar operations.

As JQ7992 VH‑VGF returned to Melbourne from Seletar on May 23 with the aircraft carrying an orange billboard colour scheme with ‘#jetstargeneration’ on the port side and ‘Low fares forever’ on the starboard side. VH‑VGF returned to Jetstar service in its new livery on May 27 when it operated JQ502 from Melbourne to Sydney.

A320-232 VH-VQE ferried out of Melbourne on May 16 as JQ7995 to Darwin and Singapore for planned maintenance.

A320-232 VH-VQF as JQ7996 returned to Melbourne from Singapore on May 17 on completion of its planned maintenance.

A320-232 VH-VQP ferried out of the Gold Coast on May 25 as JQ7991 to Darwin and Singapore for planned maintenance.

A320-232 VH-VQX, which ferried from Melbourne to Seletar on April 7 (Traffic/June), was test flown on May 30 as JQ7990. It is reported that this aircraft’s lease has been terminated and that it will be next leased to Tigerair Mandala.

A320-232 VH-VQI, which terminated its lease (Traffic/May), has been leased to Hong Kong Express Airways as B-LCA.

Network Aviation commenced RPT services on June 3 when Fokker 100 VH-NHK, which carried the titles ‘A Qantas Group Airline’, operated QF1640/1641 fromPerth to Learmonth and return.

Air New Zealand news

Air New Zealand took delivery of 777-319ER ZK-OKR at Auckland on June 8 after the aircraft ferried in from Paine Field, Washington as NZ6391.

The 777-319ER made its maiden flight on May 13 and the following day the ‘green’ aircraft was ferried to New Iberia, Louisiana where it was painted in the Air New Zealand fern leaf colour scheme with the white fuselage. The 777 returned to Paine Field from New Iberia on May 23 and was registered to Air New Zealand on June 9.

Air New Zealand was planning to take delivery of its first 787‑9, ZK-NZE msn 34334, in July. The aircraft made its maiden flight on May 28 using the Boeing test registration N1012N. It wears the all-black with white fern leaf colour scheme.

767-319ER ZK-NCI ferried out of Auckland on May 25 as NZ6086 to Hong Kong via Shanghai for planned maintenance.

A320-232/S ZK-OXF msn 6182 is planned for delivery to Air New Zealand in late July.

Air New Zealand Link/Eagle Airways withdrew Beech 1900D ZK-EAL from service on May 29 after it operated NZ2205 from Auckland to Hamilton.

Virgin Group news

Virgin Australia 737-8BK VH‑VUM was named Holloways Beach while being painted in Virgin Australia colours in Townsville (Traffic/June).

737-8FE VH-VUI ferried from Brisbane to Townsville as VOZ9939 on May 21 and on arrival entered the Flying Colours hangar to be painted in Virgin Australia colours.

737-8FE VH-VUL was reportedly withdrawn from service on May 28 after operating VOZ347 from Melbourne to Brisbane.

Tigerair ferried A320-232 VH‑VNP into Melbourne from Clark Field as TGW9021 on May 18 but contrary to our report in Traffic/ June the aircraft had not been painted in Tigerair colours while it was in the Philippines.

A320-232 VH-XUH msn 6136 should have been delivered to Tigerair by the time this is read.

A320-232 VH-XUJ is also reported to be on order for Tigerair.

Vincent Aviation in receivership

Vincent Aviation (Australia) was placed in receivership on May 28 with all operations suspended on that date.

Disposition of its Australian-based fleet as at early June was known to be as follows: Saab 340B VH-VNA operated its final service on May 28 as VIN2 from Narrabri to Sydney and later that day was ferried from Sydney to Townsville where it was placed in storage.

Saab 340B VH-VNU operated its final service on May 28 as VIN542 from Kununurra to Darwin and later that day was ferried from Darwin to Townsville (arriving May 29) where it was placed in storage.

Saab 340B VH-VNX last flew on March 23 as VIN342 from Groote Eylandt to Townsville for planned maintenance.

Saab 340B VH-VNY operated its final service on May 28 as VIN802 from Groote Eylandt to Darwin before being ferried to Townsville on June 4. It departed Townsville for Apia and Hilo on June 5.

Beech 1900D VH-VAQ has beenon lease to Hevi Lift (PNG) since August ’13 and is presently based in Myanmar.

Beech 1900D VH-VAZ last flew on April 13 as VIN74 from Mount Isa to Tamworth.

Beech 1900D VH-VNT operated its final service on May 20 as VIN502 from Bootu Creek to Darwin.

Beech 1900C VH-EMK operated its final service on May 28 as VIN532 from Jabiru to Darwin. On May 30 it departed Darwin for Newman and Perth on its return to Awesome Aviation.

Beech 1900C VH-VNV operated its final service on May 28 as VIN522 from Tindal to Darwin. It departed Darwin for Broome on June 4.

Regional news

Air North has named E170‑100LR VH-ANT Currajong.

Fiji Link, the renamed Pacific Sun, took delivery of its first ATR 72-600, DQ-FJZ msn 1146, at Nadi on June 6. The ferry from Toulouse to Suva was contracted to Southern Cross with the flight SXA1135 operating via Alexandria, Colombo, Seletar, Ujung Pandang, Darwin and Brisbane.

Planned for delivery to Fiji Link in November ’14 is an ATR 42-600 while a second ATR 72-600 will follow in December ’14.

Delivery of the ATR 42-600 and the second ATR 72-600 will then see the retirement of ATR 42-500s DQ-PSA and DQ-PSB.

Unknown Destination Services terminated the ferry flight of DHC‑6-300/FP VH‑AQU at Berne on May 4 after the aircraft arrived from Aqaba/Jordan and Split (Traffic/June). VH-AQU, which was cancelled from the register on May 15, was planned for delivery in June to European Coastal Airlines as 9A-TOA.

Bizjet news

In this issue we report the delivery of a Falcon 2000EX and a Citation Mustang and the departures of two Falcon 2000EXs, a Citation CJ2 and a Citation Mustang.

Falcon 2000EX VH-WIO msn 183, which was registered to Balmoral Air of Artarmon, NSW was cancelled from the register on January 10 ‘at owner’s request’. VH-WIO was last recorded in Australia in early June ’13 and was later noted under maintenance at Paris-Le Bourget.

Falcon 2000EX F-GZLX was then delivered to Balmoral Air at Hamilton Island on August 6 ’13 as a temporary replacement for VH-WIO. F-GZLX remained with Balmoral Air until May 16 when it departed Bankstown for Cairns, Seletar, Al Maktoum and a return to Europe.

Falcon 2000EX VH-WIO msn 259 was then registered to Balmoral Air on May 14 and on May 19 it was delivered to Bankstown from Nadi and Sydney.

Cessna 510 Mustang VH‑MHO (Traffic/June), which was on delivery to Tadmar Investments of Maddington, WA arrived at Jandakot on May 16 after completing its ferry flight from the United States via Don Muang, Seletar, Denpasar and Port Hedland.

Earlier VH-MHO had crossed the North Atlantic via Reykjavik to Doncaster, UK.

Cessna 510 Mustang ZK‑MOT was cancelled from the New Zealand register on May 9 as ‘exported’ with the aircraft later being registered N510NZ. ZK‑MOT had departed Auckland on April 11 ’12 for Sarasota, Florida where it was parked while awaiting sale.

Citation CJ2 VH-ZGP, which was registered to Avesco of Mackay North, was cancelled from the register on May 23 as ‘exported tothe USA’. Earlier on March 30 it had departed Archerfield for Mount Isa, Darwin and Balikpapan and en route stops to the USA. The CJ2 has since been registered in the US as N528CJ.

Learjet 45 VH-SQM, which departed Sydney on May 14 for Mount Isa, Darwin, Denpasar and Rangoon, is reported to have been sold overseas.

Gulfstream IV VH-WXK changed its registered operator to Avcair of Hamilton, Queensland on May 16.

Challenger 600 VH-JPQ changed its registered operator to Norseman Air of Carindale, Queensland on May 6.

Hawker 800XP VH-MEP changed its registered holder and operator to Freedom Road Logistics of Tuggerah, NSW on April 22.

King Air fleet update

In this issue we report the delivery of two King Air B200s to the RFDS.

King Air B200 N5020U msn BB‑2020 was delivered to the RFDS/Queensland Division at Cairns on May 22 after the aircraft ferried in from Denpasar and Darwin. It had earlier departed Wichita on May 13 for Bangor, St Johns and Santa Maria.

King Air B200 N5021C msn BB‑2021 was delivered to the RFDS/Queensland Division at Cairns on June 3 after the aircraft ferried in from Denpasar and Darwin. It had earlier departed Wichita on May 24 for Bangor, Gander and Santa Maria.

Both N5020U and N5021C were ferried from the US to Australia by Rangeflyers and both were delivered in the new RFDS corporate colour scheme.

King Air B200 VH-MWV of the RFDS/South Eastern Division was noted at Essendon on May 27 after being painted in the new RFDS colour scheme.

King Air B200 ZK-LRJ msn BB-1178 was delivered to Hinterland Aviation at Cairns on May 30 after it ferried in from Hamilton, Auckland, Norfolk Island and the Gold Coast. The King Air 200 was delivered in the colours of the RNZAF with which it operated as NZ1884.

King Air 300 VH-WCN was registered to Avcair of Brisbane Airport on May 6. Earlier on April 23, then registered N888YY, it was delivered to Toowoomba (Traffic/June).

Seine Aviation King Air 200 F-GIJB ferried from Noumea/Magenta to Denpasar via Brisbane, Alice Springs and Broome on May 8/9.

Pearl Aviation has King Air 200C VH-NTH and King Air 200s VH‑OYE and VH-OYH all in long-term storage at Darwin.

King Air 350i N871EU msn FL‑871 arrived at Sydney on May 14 from Halim via Broome and Alice Springs to commence a demonstration tour of New Zealand and Australia. On May 17 N871EU departed Sydney for Auckland and Ardmore to start its New Zealand leg of the tour before returning to Sydney on May 23 from Queenstown via Auckland and Norfolk Island. It departed Bankstown for Cairns on June 1 to start the Australian stage of the tour.

Commander 690B VH-LVG changed its registered holder and operator to AGA Services of Stawell, Victoria on April 24.

Gulfstreams galore

JP Morgan Chase Bank Gulfstream 650 N652CH arrived in Sydneyfrom Hong Kong on May 31 and departed Sydney for Taipei on June 4.

Suntrust Equipment Finance & Leasing Gulfstream 550 N441GC arrived in Melbourne from Honolulu in the early hours of May 10 before continuing to Sydney on May 12. It departed Sydney for Beijing on May 13.

American Express Gulfstream 550 N552X arrived in Sydney from New Delhi on May 1 and after overnighting departed to Honolulu.

TAI Leasing Gulfstream 550 N801TM (Traffic/June) departed Melbourne for Nagoya on May 2.

TDC Management Gulfstream 550 N811GA (Traffic June) departed Canberra for Honolulu on April 30.

Gulfstream 550 N838KE arrived in Melbourne from Singapore on June 2 before departing later the same day for Manila.

Gulfstream 550 N950CM arrived in Melbourne from Honolulu on May 11 before continuing to Sydney on May 14. It departed Sydney for Honolulu on May 16.

Capital Airlines Gulfstream 550 B-8122 arrived in Cairns from Beijing on May 31 before continuing to Canberra on June 1 and Sydney and Brisbane on June 2 994748 Ontario Gulfstream 550 C-GGPM arrived in Perth from Dubai on May 13 and after overnighting continued to Kalgoorlie. It departed Kalgoorlie for Sydney on May 15 before continuing to Honolulu on May 17.

Netjets Europe Gulfstream 550 CS-DKI as flight NJE236F transited Brisbane in the early hours of June 1 while en route from Singapore to Nadi.

Full Wings Gulfstream 550 VPCKG arrived in Sydney on May 29 and on June 1 departed for Brisbane and Seletar.

US Navy Gulfstream V/C-37A 166375 callsign ‘Navy 375’ arrived in Sydney from Atsugi on May 31 and continued to Canberra on June 3.

North Pacific Enterprises Gulfstream 5 N83CW arrived in Melbourne from Honolulu on May 28 before continuing the same day to Sydney and Brisbane. It departed Brisbane for Pusan on May 29.

NetJets Gulfstream V N546QS arrived in Sydney from Honolulu on May 11 and after overnighting returned to Honolulu.

Baxter Healthcare Gulfstream 450 N1BX arrived in Melbourne from Nadi on May 9 before returning to Nadi on May 13.

Gulfstream 450 N617XT arrived in Melbourne from Halim on May 29 and after overnighting continued to Sydney. It departed Sydney for Cairns on June 2.

Primejets Gulfstream 450 N668EM arrived in Perth from Halim on May 1 before returning there on May 3.

Majjec Jhett Gulfstream IV N317MJ arrived in Sydney from Broome and Samui, Thailand on May 4 and after overnighting continued to Papeete.

Odin Aviation Gulfstream IV N808T arrived in Sydney from Papeete on May 1 before returning to Papeete on May 4.

Éclair Aviation Gulfstream 200 OK-GLF arrived in Sydney from Queenstown on May 11. It departed for Darwin on May 13 before continuing to Hong Kong on May 15.

Overseas bizjets

Sanctuary Aviation Global Express G-SANL arrived in Sydney from Beijing on May 6 and departed on May 8 to Brisbane and Subang.

Tyrolean Jet Service Global Express OE-IEL arrived in Sydney from Narita as flight TJS21 on May 20 before departing to Langkawi on May 26.

Samsung Global Express HL8238 departed Sydney for Auckland on May 3 and its arrival in New Zealand coincided with the delivery to Samsung of 737‑7EG/BBJ HL8270. The BBJ, then registered N705JM, had arrived as a green aircraft at Altitude Aerospace on September 17 ’12. It departed Christchurch for Guam on May 4.

Global 6000 VP-BVM arrived in Perth from Subang on May 3 and departed to Kota Kinabalu on May 6.

VistaJet Global 5000 9H-VTB as flight VJT526 arrived in Sydney from Singapore on May 11 and after overnighting departed to Halim.

Challenger 605 B-7796 arrived at the Gold Coast from Bandar Seri Begawan on May 12 before continuing to Auckland on May 15. It later arrived in Darwin from Nadi on May 20 before continuing to Denpasar on May 21.

Silver Bird Learjet 55 D-CWAY arrived in Perth in the early hours of May 5 from Denpasar and departed in the early hours of May 6 on its return to Denpasar.

Maritime Sales and Leasing Learjet 36A N41GJ, which was operating a medevac, flight arrived in Sydney from Honolulu, Pago Pago and Nadi on May 7. After overnighting it departed to Pago Pago and Honolulu.

Premier Jets Learjet 36A N363PJ, which was operating a medevac flight, arrived in Brisbane from Majuro on May 20 before returning to Majuro on May 22.

Phoenix Air Group Learjet 36 N71PG arrived in Perth from Guam and Darwin on May 14 and after overnighting returned to Darwin and Guam.

Cessna 680 N188TL arrived in Sydney from Subang and Darwin on May 4 and departed to Darwin and Subang on May 6.

US Marines/Futenma Cessna 560/UC-35D 166713 callsign ‘Magic 91’ arrived in Darwin from Zamboanga on May 21 before returning to Zamboanga on May 24.

TAG Aviation (UK) Falcon 7X G-STMT arrived in Brisbane from Singapore on May 27 and the same day operated a return flight to Mackay before continuing to Canberra. After overnighting it departed to Melbourne and Singapore.

Jesse Duplantis Ministries Falcon 50 N770JD arrived in Brisbane from Pago Pago on May 1 and departed to the Gold Coast and Pago Pago on May 7.

Ferry flights

AT-802A N8516V msn 560, which was on delivery to an owner in South Australia, arrived at the Gold Coast on May 12 after crossing the Pacific from Santa Maria via Honolulu, Majuro and Honiara. The ferry flight was operated by SRD Aviation of Albury.

AT-802A N8517Q msn 558, which was on delivery to an owner in Moree, was planned to cross the Pacific in early June with SRD Aviation again ferrying the aircraft.

Cessna 208B 5X-AMK 208B2128, which arrived at Broome from Cocos Island on March 30 (Traffic/May), was registered VH-TQB to Acena Nominees of Adelaide on May 6.

Cessna 182T ZK-TOT, which has been sold in Australia, departed Ardmore for Kerikeri and Norfolk Island on May 12 before continuing the following day to Lord Howe Island and the Gold Coast.

Cessna A185E VH-BVS (Traffic/June) was cancelled from the register on May 7 as ‘exported to New Zealand’ and on May 20 it was registered ZK-MUR to an owner in Queenstown.

Cirrus SR22 VH-PNB departedthe Gold Coast on May 31 for Lord Howe Island and after overnighting it continued to Norfolk Island.

GA8-TC 320 VH-ZGS departed Tamworth on May 25 for the Gold Coast, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. After overnighting there it continued to Noumea/La Tontouta.

PAC 750XL VH-TEQ, which is registered to Thomson Aviation of Griffith, departed Broome for Denpasar on May 19.

PA-24-250 ZK-BAZ departed Coffs Harbour for Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island on May 20 and after overnighting continued to Kerikeri. ZK-BAZ had been in Australia since March 24 when it arrived at the Gold Coast from Kerikeri and Norfolk Island.

Ravin 500 ZU-XML, which is on a round-the-world flight (Traffic/June), departed Bankstown for Ayers Rock on May 13 and from Darwin to Halim on May 19.

Seawind 3000 ZK-SWK has been sold in Australia and departed Kerikeri for Norfolk Island on May 7 before continuing to Lord Howe Island and the Gold Coast on May 9.

Heavy metal

224 Flight Unit State Airlines An-124 RA-82014 arrived in Perth in the early hours of May 26 as flight TTF9034 after a direct flight from Al Maktoum. It departed later that morning for Mauritius as TTF9035.

Ukraine Air Alliance An-12BP UR-CGW as flight UKL4007 arrived in Perth from Denpasar on May 13 before departing the following day asUKL4008 to Davao City.

US Air Force KC-135R 58‑0015 callsign ‘Reach 267’ arrived in Darwin from Hilo on May 29.

US Air Force KC-135R 62‑3537 callsign ‘Reach 965’ arrived in Darwin from Kona on May 16. On May 26 the KC-135R operated a return flight from Darwin to RAAF Pearce before it departed Darwin for Kona on May 30.

Tracinda Corporation 737-72T/BBJ N50TC arrived in Brisbane from Honolulu on May 24 and after overnighting returned to Honolulu.

Hamilton Jets 737-7HE/BBJ M-YBBJ transited Darwin in the early hours of May 10 while en route from Nadi to Don Muang.

US Navy 737-7AFC/C-40A 165833 callsign ‘Convoy 7324’ arrived in Darwin from Iwakuni on May 28 and after overnighting operated a return flight to RAAF Pearce.

US Air Force/AMC C-17A 07‑7185, which carried a Charleston tailband and was operating as ‘Reach 438’, arrived in Canberra from Whenuapai on May 9 and after overnighting departed to Halim.

Volga Dnepr Il-76TD-90VD RA‑76950 callsign ‘ASY106’ arrived at Perth from Male and Cocos on May 8 before continuing the following day to RAAF Edinburgh. The Ilyushin departed Edinburgh for Johor Bahru as flight VDA106 on May 10.

US Marines KC-130J 168074 callsign ‘Sumo 91’ arrived in Darwin from MCAS Futenma on May 14 and after overnighting departed for Kadena.

US Navy C-130T 165158 as flight CNV3022 arrived in Brisbane from Honiara on May 15. The following day it operated a return flight to Woomera before departing Brisbane for Pago Pago on May 19.

TNI-AU (Indonesian air force) C-130H A-1331 ex A97-009 (Traffic/June) departed Townsville for RAAF Richmond on May 22 after it was painted in TNI‑AU colours. On June 2 A-1331 departed Richmond for Darwin and onward delivery to Indonesia.