Traffic

SF Airlines 767-338ER(BCF) B-1576, the former VH-OGR, completed its freighter conversion at Paya Lebar before being ferried to Shenzhen on September 3. It entered service with SF Airlines on September 5 when it operated a flight from Shenzhen to Wuxi.

767-338ER(BDSF) N374CM of Cargo Aircraft Management, the former VH-OGS, was converted to a freighter by IAI at Tel Aviv and then ferried to Rome, New York State via Cincinnati on August 8-9. The aircraft was then leased to Air Transport International and registered N307AZ before entry into service.

QantasLink took delivery of Fokker 100 VH-NHZ at Perth on September 26 after it completed its ferry flight from Bratislava. The ferry from Bratislava to Perth was operated by Southern Cross as SXI 1639 with the aircraft routed via Trabzon, Al Ain, Hyderabad, Penang and Halim. VH-NHZ was registered to Alliance Airlines on May 13 but the aircraft was delivered to Perth wearing QantasLink colours and titles.

Fokker 100 VH-NHO was repainted in QantasLink colours at Wagga Wagga after arriving there on August 22 (Traffic/October). On September 19 it ferried from Wagga Wagga to Perth.

Qantas Cargo 737-376(F) VH-XMO ferried from Perth to Seletar as QF7301 on September 9 for planned maintenance. It was still in Seletar as of early October.

Jetstar aircraft undergoing maintenance in Singapore in this period include: A321-231 VH-VWW which departed Singapore for Darwin and Melbourne as JQ8994 on September 9; A321-231 VH-VWY which departed Singapore for Darwin and Melbourne as JQ8998 on September 13; A320-232 VH-JQX which departed Seletar for Darwin and Melbourne as JQ8992 on September 4; A320-232 VH-VQH which departed Seletar for Melbourne as JQ8996 on September 10; A320-232 VH-VQR which departed Seletar for Melbourne as JQ8992 on September 12; and A320-232 VH-VQZ which departed Seletar for Melbourne as JQ8992 on September 24.

Jetstar registered A321-231/W VH VWQ msn 7384 on October 6, and note that this is a change of registration from what was quoted in Traffic/October.

Jetstar Pacific has A320-232/WL VN-A566 msn 7378 and A320-232/ WL VN-A567 msn 7423 on order.

Airline news

In this issue we report the delivery of a 787-9 to Air New Zealand and an E-170LR to Airnorth.

Air New Zealand took delivery of 787-9 ZK-NZJ in Auckland on September 11 after the aircraft ferried in from Paine Field as NZ6094. ZK-NZJ entered service on September 14 when it operated NZ125 from Auckland to Melbourne.

787-9 ZK-NZK made its maiden flight on September 25 and was planned for delivery to Air New Zealand in late October.

777-319ER ZK-OKP, which had been in Paya Lebar since August 15 (Traffic/October) where it had its special Hobbit livery removed, returned to Auckland as NZ6019 on September 27. It returned to service later the same day operating NZ6 from Auckland to Los Angeles.

767-319ER ZK-NCK, which has been in storage at Alice Springs since July 5, was cancelled from the New Zealand register on July 7.

767-319ER ZK-NCL, which was withdrawn from service on July 26 (Traffic/October), had its Air New Zealand titles and koru removed before departing Auckland for Alice Springs on October 5 as NZ6011 where it was placed in storage.

Air Niugini ferried Fokker 100 P2-ANH as PX6390 from Port Moresby on September 25 to Darwin, Denpasar and Kuala Lumpur for planned maintenance.

Airnorth took delivery of E-170LR VH-ANF at Darwin on September 11 after the aircraft completed its ferry flight from Clermont-Ferrand via Cairo, Sharjah and Johor Bahru.

Airwork ferried 737-476(F) ZK-JTQ from Brisbane to Darwin and Seletar on September 10 for planned maintenance.

737-484(F) ZK-TLL, which was delivered to Auckland on August 20 as N962NZ (Traffic/October), was ferried from Auckland to Brisbane on September 11. It entered service with Toll on September 12 as TFR21 from Brisbane to Sydney.

Jetgo was planning to take delivery of ERJ-140LR N297SK in late October. The ERJ, which will be registered VH-ZJG, had been stored at Kingman, Arizona since May 20 ’15.

Virgin Group news

Virgin Australia ferried 737-8FE VH-VUC from Melbourne to Seletar as VOZ9941 on September 15 for planned maintenance.

737-8FE VH-YIJ ferried from Brisbane to Townsville as VOZ9901 on September 13. It entered the Flying Colours hangar for a repaint to correct defects in the original scheme. VH-YIJ ferried from Townsville to Brisbane as VOZ9900 on September 28.

E190-100IGW VH-ZPK returned to Brisbane on October 1 as VOZ9902 from maintenance at Nashville via Van Nuys, Honolulu and Apia.

Virgin Australia Regional Airlines ferried Fokker 100 VH-FNJ as flight VOZ9940 from Perth to Port Hedland and Seletar on September 4 for planned maintenance. VH-FNJ returned to Perth from Seletar and Port Hedland as VOZ9942 on October 2.

Fokker 100 VH-FWI, which had been in Seletar for maintenance since July 23, returned to Perth from Seletar and Port Hedland as VOZ9942 on September 2.

Fokker 50 VH-FNB Shire of Esperance, which had been under long-term maintenance in Perth, was test flown there on September 20.

Fokker 50s VH-FND, VH-FNE and VH-FNH, which are in storage at Alice Springs, had their registered holders changed to APU Investors of Delaware, USA and their registered operators changed to JMC Investments of Hamilton, Victoria on September 23.

Fokker 50 VH-FSL, which departed the country on July 1 (Traffic/August), had its registered holder changed to APU Investors and its registered operator changed to JMC Investments on September 16.

Virgin Australia Cargo Services BAe 146-200QT VH-SFV ferried from Bankstown to Adelaide as VOZ9566 on September 18 and the following day it entered service when it operated VOZ9570 from Adelaide to Melbourne.

From September 19 VH-SFV and BAe 146-200QC VH-SIF began operating crossover stopover freight services between Adelaide and Cairns and between Cairns and Adelaide.

From September 19 to September 22 Convair 580F VH-PDW commenced a four times weekly (Mon-Thu) flight on the Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney route.

Tigerair ferried A320-232 VH-VNP as TGW9002 from Melbourne to Darwin and Clark, Philippines on September 3 for planned maintenance.

Regional airline news

In this issue we report the delivery of a Cessna 208B/EX to Air Safaris and the departures of two Air Tahiti ATR 72-500s, a Beech 1900D of Awesome Aviation and a Beech 1900D of Air Fleet Management.

Air Caledonie ferried ATR 72-500 F-OIPN from Nelson to Noumea as TPC7201 on October 6 after planned maintenance in Nelson.

Air Safaris took delivery of Cessna 208B/EX N9493 msn208B-5285 at Dunedin on October 3 after it completed its trans-Pacific ferry from Merced, California via Honolulu, Apia and Auckland. The Cessna will be registered to Air Safaris as ZK-SRX.

Air Tahiti has terminated its lease on ATR 72-500 F-OIQN, which on September 10 ferried from Noumea to Cairns and Denpasar. The ATR 72 was destined for Toulouse/Francazal where it arrived on September 15 from Cairo and Toulouse/Blagnac.

Air Tahiti has also terminated its lease on ATR 72-500 F-OIQO, which on September 27 ferried from Noumea to Cairns and Denpasar. F-OIQO terminated its ferry flight at Toulouse/Francazal on October 3.

New production ATR 72-600 F-ORVU msn 1350 departed Toulouse/Blagnac on October 4 for Paphos on the first leg of its delivery flight to Air Tahiti.

Air Vanuatu took delivery of DHC-6-300 YJ-AV12 in Port Vila on October 3 after the aircraft completed its ferry flight from Cairns via Port Moresby, Gurney, Munda and Honiara. The Twin Otter is reported to be msn 673, which was previously operated by Hevilift (PNG) as P2-KSU.

Air Vanuatu is planning to take delivery of ATR 72-600 YJ-AV73 msn 1358 in early November.

Awesome Aviation ferried Beech 1900D VH-NOA from Jandakot to Broome and Denpasar on September 15. The Beech was cancelled from the Australian register on September 27 on its export to South Africa.

PNG Air has terminated its lease of Dash 8-103 P2-MCO, which on September 25 departed Port Moresby for Montreal. Between September 27 and 29 P2-MCO ferried from Anadyr to Anchorage, Whitehorse, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Montreal/Trudeau.

Sounds Air ferried PC-12/45 ZK-PLS from Wellington to Lord Howe Island, Gold Coast and Redcliffe on September 7.

Toll Metro III VH-UUO was cancelled from the register on September 28 as ‘exported to the USA’.

Bizjet news

In this issue we report the delivery of a Challenger 604 and a Learjet 35A.

Challenger 604 C-FOGX msn 5656 was delivered to Cobham Aviation in Adelaide from Nadi on October 3.

TVPX ARS Learjet 35A N615HB msn 444 arrived at Nowra, NSW on September 23 after ferrying in from the former Castle AFB in California via Honolulu, Apia and Noumea.

Jet City Learjet 36A VH-JCX departed Wagga Wagga for Essendon on September 26 after being painted in a new colour scheme.

Citation II VH-JMK, which was operated by J M Kelly (Builders) of Red Hill Mail Centre, Queensland departed Maroochydore for Cairns and Port Moresby on September 15. The following day VH-JMK changed its registered holder to P L Marshall of Stretton, Queensland and its registered operator to D B Pyers of Westcourt, Queensland.

Citation CJ1 VH-DAA changed its registered operator on September 23 from Light Jets (Australia) of Toowoomba to Vanguard Aviation of Lutwyche, Queensland.

Pel Air Aviation Westwind II VH-KNR departed Wagga Wagga on September 5 for Darwin and Johor Bahru where it arrived on September 6. It has since taken up residence in Johor Bahru operating medevac flights in South-East Asia.

In propjet news Avanti II N80TC, which was delivered to Essendon on August 27 (Traffic/October), was cancelled from the US register on September 23 as ‘exported to Australia’.

King Air 350i N5108B msn FL-1008 departed Bankstown for Cairns on October 4. It was delivered to Bankstown on March 17 (Traffic/May) and was noted on arrival to also be carrying the registration PK-CAS.

King Air 350 RP-C2638 msn FL-137, which arrived at Bankstown on March 30 (Traffic/May), was registered N137FL on June 28, but as of late September it was still resident at Bankstown.

Hevilift (PNG) King Air B200C P2-KSN has been sold and on October 4 it was noted flying at Cairns now registered P2-ALC. The all-white King Air then departed Cairns for Port Moresby on October 5 on delivery to its new owner.

King Air B200 N521FT, which was operated by the Northern Territory Medical Service as VH-NTH, was noted at Darwin on September 22.

Heli Resources Cessna 425 ZK-LHL, which was parked at Tauranga, was cancelled from the New Zealand register on September 7. It was reportedly later moved from Tauranga in a container.

PA-31T P2-OMH msn 31T-7520037 was noted in late September on static display outside the Cairns Aviation Skills Centre at Cairns Airport. P2-OMH, which was operated by Central Aviation, was last recorded flying from Port Moresby to Cairns on September 17 ’15.

PA-31T N500 msn 31T-7920094 arrived at Cairns from Denpasar, Broome and Katherine on September 26 before continuing to Moree on October 4.

Commander 695A VH-HPY changed its registered holder and operator on September 16 to Agair Logistics of Stawell, Victoria.

Gulfstreams galore

Peak Enterprises Gulfstream 650ER N4CP arrived in Sydney from Honolulu on September 12 before returning there on September 16.

Nanshan Jet Gulfstream 650ER N566NS arrived Sydney from Yantai on September 20 before departing to Shanghai on September 22.

Gulfstream 650ER VP-CCY arrived in Perth from Shenzhen on October 1 before departing to Seletar on October 5.

NBI Gulfstream 550 N75CC arrived in Sydney from Honolulu on September 30. It operated a return flight to Canberra on October 3 before departing Sydney for Ayers Rock and Darwin on October 5.

Oakmount Holdings Gulfstream 550 N336EB arrived at Essendon from Nadi on September 4 and departed to Honolulu on September 14.

Chevron Gulfstream 550s N401HB, N443M, N816MG and N5092 plus 3M Gulfstream 550 N53M arrived in Perth from Nadi on September 25. All five Gulfstreams then departed Perth for Barrow Island on September 27 before continuing to Onslow and Perth on September 28. The 3M Gulfstream then departed Perth for Cairns and Kona while the four Chevron Gulfstream 550s departed for Ayers Rock on September 28 and then direct to Kona on September 29.

Coca-Cola Gulfstream 550 N586RW arrived in Sydney from Don Muang on September 28 before continuing to Essendon on September 30. It departed Essendon for Don Muang on October 1.

Prime Jet Gulfstream 550 N888VS arrived in Cairns from Honolulu on September 9. It was later noted at Ayers Rock, Essendon and Hobart before departing Sydney for Honolulu on September 23.

Gulfstream 550 N897NC arrived in Sydney from Honolulu on September 25 before returning there on September 29.

Gulfstream 550 N919PE arrived at Hamilton Island from Don Muang and Cairns on September 22 before departing to Brisbane and Wellington on September 27.

Gulfstream 550 B-KGP arrived at the Gold Coast from Hong Kong on September 21 and after overnighting continued to Adelaide. It departed Adelaide for Shenzhen on September 23.

Nanshan Jet Gulfstream 550 B-8260 arrived in Melbourne from Hong Kong on September 7 before continuing to Sydney on September 9. It departed Sydney for Hong Kong on September 12.

Star Jet Gulfstream 550 B-8270 transited Cairns on September 22 while en route from Auckland to Clark.

Mandarin Air Gulfstream 550 B-8298 arrived in Sydney from Seletar on September 30 before continuing to Melbourne on October 2. It departed Melbourne for Shenzhen on October 4.

GAMA Aviation (UK) Gulfstream 550 VQ-BGN as GMA807 arrived in Sydney from Sharjah and Perth on September 25.

Gulfstream V N371JC arrived in Sydney from Seletar on September 25 before returning to Seletar on September 29.

US Navy Gulfstream V/C-37A 166375 arrived in Adelaide from Manila on September 4 and departed to Honolulu on September 8.

Gulfstream V VP-CAR arrived in Melbourne from Manila on September 23 before returning to Manila on September 25.

Tempus Jets Gulfstream IV N198GS arrived in Cairns from Majuro on September 2. Operating on behalf of NASA, it commenced a month-long project to photograph the Barrier Reef. N198GS was still operating out of Cairns as of October 6.

Majestic Equipment Services Gulfstream 200 N889MR arrived in Cairns from Biak on September 19.

Overseas bizjets

Zetta Jet Global 6000 N588LQ arrived in Cairns from Honolulu on September 23 and departed Cairns for Kota Bahru on September 28.

VistaJet Global 6000 9H-VJI departed Brisbane for Sydney on September 12 before continuing to Melbourne on September 14. It then departed Melbourne for Honolulu on September 16.

VistaJet Global 6000 9H-VJJ arrived in Melbourne from Halim on September 21 and after overnighting departed to Hong Kong.

Tony Robbins Productions Global Express N850TR arrived in Sydney from Honolulu on September 7 and departed to Nadi on September 11.

Aircraft Operations Global 5000 M-CVGL arrived in Maroochydore from Shanghai/Pudong and Cairns on September 25. It later visited Ayers Rock, Hobart and Essendon before arriving in Sydney on October 5.

Global 5000 VP-CGM transited Darwin on September 23 while en route from Hong Kong to Queenstown.

FAI Ambulance Challenger 604 D-AFAI as IFA1704 arrived in Sydney from Johor Bahru on September 28 and departed to Denpasar on September 29.

Premier Jets Learjet 36A N363PJ arrived in Sydney from Majuro and Honiara on September 13 operating a medevac flight. It departed Sydney for Honiara and Majuro on September 14. The Learjet then returned to Australia when it arrived in Melbourne from Majuro and Honiara on October 2 before departing for Brisbane, Honiara and Majuro on October 4.

Falcon 7X OY-TSS as MMD3299 arrived in Perth from Kuala Lumpur on September 11.

Mobility SAS Falcon 7X F-HSAS arrived in Sydney from Seletar on September 19 and departed to Brisbane and Colombo on September 22.

Lineage 1000 N889ML arrived in Sydney from Macau on September 13 before returning there on September 16.

Ferry flights

Beech 1900D VH-BFI, the former ZK-EAM of ANZ Link/Eagle Airways, was registered to Kampala Executive Aviation of Kampala, Uganda in Cairns on August 11 (Traffic/October). On September 19 VH-BFI was test flown at Cairns and on September 21 it departed for Darwin and Surabaya where it arrived on September 22.

Cessna 208B/EX N271EX arrived in Perth from Denpasar via Broome and Meekatharra on September 3 to begin a demonstration tour of Australia. It was later noted at Essendon, Bankstown, Archerfield, and Townsville before departing Cairns for Horn Island and Biak on September 26.

Cessna 208B N847SV 208B-0847, which will be registered ZK-ROK, was delivered to Skydive Wanaka at Wanaka on October 3. A Supervan 900 conversion of the Cessna 208B, it was ferried from Merced to Wanaka via Honolulu, Apia and Auckland.

Cessna 208B N859LM 208B-1195 was planned for delivery to Milford Sound Flights in late October.

Soaring Safaris Cessna 208B V5-AGS arrived in Cairns from Honiara and Gurney on September 6 and after overnighting continued to Burketown.

Photo Survey Cessna 310Q ZK-DEM departed Ardmore on September 22 for Kerikeri, Norfolk Island and Noumea.

Riviera Aviation Cessna U206G VH-PIY departed the Gold Coast for Port Vila on September 17.

MAF PNG DHC-6-200 P2-MFU, having completed its planned maintenance at Mareeba, departed for Horn Island and Mount Hagen on September 11.

DHC-2/FP P2-HOR, which is operated by The Hands of Rescue (see October Australian Aviation), departed Mareeba for Weipa on September 4.

Columbia 400 LC41-550FG N4446 arrived in Hobart from Christchurch on September 21 and later visited Lord Howe Island, Cairns, Alice Springs and Darwin where it arrived on October 1. It departed Darwin direct to Seletar on October 4.

Mooney M-20R ZK-VVB departed Kerikeri for Lord Howe Island on August 31 before continuing to Coffs Harbour on September 1. ZK-VVB was cancelled from the New Zealand register on September 6.

P-750XL ZK-KDD msn 203, which is reported to be ferrying to China, departed Hamilton for Auckland on September 30 before continuing to Norfolk Island on October 3 and Lord Howe Island on October 6.

Erickson S-64E N194AC/741 Delilah was an early arrival for the 2016/17 bushfire season when it arrived at Essendon from the Melbourne docks on September 18. It later departed Essendon on ferry to Bankstown on September 23.

Heavy metal

Qatar Amiri Flight A340-211 A7-HHK arrived in Perth from Doha on September 5 before returning to Doha on September 6.

Eva Airways A319-115(CJ) B-54111 arrived in Perth from Taipei/Songshan on October 1. It returned to Taipei/Songshan on October 5.

Turkish Government A319-115(CJ) TC-ANA as TRK2 arrived in Melbourne from Kuala Lumpur on October 4.

Antonov Airlines An-124 UR-82073 as ADB2390 arrived in Rockhampton from Paya Lebar on September 3 before departing to Johor Bahru as ADB290F on September 4. It operated further flights into Rockhampton on September 6-7 and September 9-10.

Japan Air Lines 787-8 JA844J, which was operating a soccer charter, arrived in Melbourne from Tokyo/Narita on October 8 and the same day returned to Narita as JAL8772.

Emirates SkyCargo 777-200F1H A6-EFD arrived in Adelaide from Dubai World Central on September 11, the first time a 777-200F had visited Adelaide. It was carrying a spare engine for Emirates Airline 777-31HER A6-EGA, which had diverted to Adelaide on September 7 after the crew reported an engine oil leak during a flight from Dubai to Brisbane.

On September 20 Emirates SkyCargo 777-F1H A6-EFL arrived in Adelaide from Dubai World Central and Singapore to collect the damaged engine from A6-EGA. Later the same day A6-EFL departed for Manila.

Omni Aviation 767-33A N378AX as OAE354 arrived at Tindal from Iwakuni and Darwin on September 14 and the following day departed for Darwin and Iwakuni.

Aeronexus 767-35DER ZS-NEX as ARN84A was operating a Captain’s Choice tour when it arrived in Sydney from Papeete on September 13. As ARN87K it departed Sydney for Papeete on September 15.

TAG Aviation (UK) 757-2K2 G-TCSX arrived in Sydney from Nadi on September 25 and departed as VIP619 to Denpasar on September 28.

GAMA Aviation 737-800/ BBJ2 VP-BZZ arrived Sydney from Nagoya on September 25. It departed Sydney for Hamilton Island on September 29 before returning to Sydney on October 2.

Boeing Company 737-7BC/ BBJ N836BA arrived Brisbane from Gimpo on September 22 before continuing to Honolulu on September 23.

AvJet Corporation 737-7EG/ BBJ N8767 arrived in Sydney from Papeete on September 2.

Deer Jet 737-73W/BBJ B-5273 arrived in Melbourne from Hong Kong on October 2 before returning to Hong Kong on October 4.

Jet Aviation 737-7JB/BBJ VP-BFT arrived in Sydney from Guangzhou on September 5 before returning there on September 10.

Air Philippines Dash 8-Q402 RP-C3032 arrived in Cairns for planned maintenance from Biak as GAP5009 on September 26.

Lynden Cargo Lockheed 382G N405LC as BMBR132 arrived at RAAF Richmond from Paya Lebar and Darwin on September 4.

US Marines Lockheed KC-130T 164180/NY callsign ‘Yanky 94’ arrived in Cairns from Majuro on September 12. It departed Cairns for Tindal on September 14 before continuing to Guam on September 15.