US to Australia the long way: Jetgo’s first Embraer ERJ-140LR arrives Down Under

Jetgo Embraer ERJ140LR at Brisbane Airport (Jetgo)

Jetgo’s first Embraer ERJ-140LR regional jet has touched down in Brisbane after a marathon week-long ferry flight that featured nine refuelling stops in five countries.

The first of Jetgo’s two 44-seat ERJ-140LRs arrived in Brisbane on Thursday. While the aircraft has been repainted in Jetgo livery, it still features US registration N297SK. It was understood the regional jet will be registered VH-ZJG before it enters service in this country.

Flight schedules from Jetgo showed the ERJ-140’s ferry flight began at Kingman, Arizona, on October 14, when N297SK was taken to Van Nuys, California.

The journey continued the next day, with the Embraer regional jet flying to Ketchikan and then onwards to Anchorage in Alaska.

Jetgo's Embraer ERJ-140LR at Ketchikan, Alaska. (Jetgo) — Jetgo’s Embraer ERJ-140LR refuelling at Ketchikan, Alaska. (Jetgo)

Jetgo's Embraer ERJ-140LR at Anchorage, Alaska. (Jetgo) — Spectacular scenery near Anchorage, Alaska. (Jetgo)

After a second overnight, the flight crew took the aircraft to Nome, Alaska, then crossed the international dateline before landing at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport on the southern edge of Russia’s east coast.

Leaving Russia on October 17, the aircraft headed to Sapporo, Japan, then flew Sapporo-Okinawa-Palau on October 18.

Views from the ferry flight of Jetgo's Embraer ERJ-140LR at Nome, Alaska. (Jetgo) — A view of Nome, Alaska, from the ferry flight. (Jetgo)

Spectacular views of the terrain from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport in Russia. (Jetgo) — On the ground at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport in Russia. (Jetgo)

Views of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on board Jetgo's Embraer ERJ-140LR. (Jetgo) — Flying over Russia. (Jetgo)

The aircraft first touched down on Australian soil at Townsville on October 19, before reaching Brisbane the next day.

Currently, Jetgo flies three 37-seat ERJ-135LRs on its regular public transport (RPT) network comprising nine destinations across three states along Australia’s east coast.

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The additional aircraft comes as Jetgo prepares to boost its schedule between Albury and Brisbane to six flights a week from November 1, from four weekly services currently.

The privately held regional carrier is also adding a new destination from Melbourne Essendon Airport with four flights a week to Port Macquarie starting on November 7.

A look at the routing via Great Circle Mapper. (gcmap.com)

Jetgo also teased the arrival of the aircraft on its Facebook page:

Comments (9)

Greg

October 21, 2016 at 3:37 pm

Congrats on a job well done.

Interested to know if the next one will follow the same route ?

Greg

Marc

October 22, 2016 at 8:59 am

Great pics add to the story.

Jason Ryder

October 22, 2016 at 9:41 am

Greg the next one may well have to traverse through Europe as in a few more weeks the northern routes weather will become extreme.

Marcus

October 22, 2016 at 11:17 am

Curious ro know what tha Cabin Crew compliment will be as Australia has a 1:36 ratio. The Q300 with over 36 passengers operates with 2 Cabin Crew in OZ although a grey area since a dispensation has been granted for Qantaslink to operate its Q300 for Propstar New Zealnd with only 1 Cabin Crew for 50 passengers since NZ has a ratio of 1:50.