Traffic

QantasLink Dash 8-402Q VH-LQL operated QLK2305 from Cairns to Townsville on March 25 and, on arrival, entered the Flying Colours hangar for painting in the silver roo livery.

Jetstar A320-232 VH-VQK operated JQ566 Melbourne to Brisbane on March 1 and, on arrival, was hangered to be painted in a one-off scheme urging passengers to ‘Start your Tasmanian Adventures at Launceston Airport’. The aircraft returned to service in its new scheme on March 13 when it operated JQ561 from Brisbane to Melbourne.

Jetstar Asia A320-232 9V-JSB has been similarly attired in a scheme advertising the Northern Territory and the fact that it has been 10 years since Jetstar Asia started services from Darwin to Singapore. Its initial flight bearing the new scheme was on March 21/22 when it operated 3K161/162 Singapore-Darwin-Singapore.

Airline News

In this issue we report the delivery of a Dash 8-Q202 to Air Niugini and an ATR 72-600 to Air Tahiti, while departing from storage was a 767-300ER of Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand took delivery of their first A320neo ZK-NHA at Christchurch on March 2 (Traffic/April) and placed the aircraft into service on March 11 when it operated NZ893 from Christchurch to Melbourne.

A320-232 ZK-OJO was withdrawn from service in the early hours of March 18 after it operated NZ888/17 from Melbourne to Christchurch.

B767-319ER N830WE, which is the former ZK-NCI, was taken out of storage at Alice Springs and prepared for ferry to Tel Aviv. It departed on March 8 and arrived on March 13 via Honolulu and Wilmington. At Tel Aviv the aircraft, which is owned by Cargo Aircraft Management, was hangered for freighter conversion.

Air Niugini took delivery of Dash 8-Q202 C-GRGK msn 522 at Port Moresby on March 10 after the aircraft completed its trans- Pacific ferry from Buchanan Field via Honolulu and Majuro. Later registered P2-ANL, the aircraft is a replacement for Dash 8-Q202 P2-ANX which was destroyed by fire at Mendi on June 14 last year (Traffic/August).

Alliance Airlines registered Fokker 70 VH-NUO msn 11529 ex OE-LFI on February 18. The aircraft, which is presently under maintenance at Norwich UK, is currently planned for delivery to Brisbane by mid-year.

Fokker 100 VH-FKD left Perth on March 29 for Bratislava for planned maintenance. The ferry, which was operated by Southern Cross as SXI1902, was routed via Surabaya, Subang, Hyderabad, Al Ain and Trabzon.

Fiji Airways were caught up in 737-MAX8 problems in this period with 737-MAX8 DQ-FAD grounded at Nadi on March 12 after the aircraft operated FJI1914 from Sydney, and 737-MAX8 DQ-FAB grounded at Nadi on March 13 after operating FJI1914 from Sydney.

B737-8 DQ-FJG as FJI2003 was ferried from Nadi to Cairns and Seletar on March 26 for planned maintenance while 737-8 DQ-FJN, as FJI2004, was ferried from Seletar to Cairns and Nadi on March 23 after completing planned maintenance.

OzJet 737-229 VH-OZX, which has been in storage at Perth since May 19 2009 since the airline ceased operations, was later registered N737HL. On March 27, registered to Red Cloud Assets of Cheyenne, Wyoming it was trucked out of Perth to White Gum Air Park near York.

737-229 VH-OZU, later registered N733HL, has been parked at Perth since May 9 2009, and will, reportedly, also be roadtransported from Perth to White Gum Air Park.

Samoa Airways planned to place 737 MAX9 DQ-TFL msn 43339 into service in late April but given the recent 737MAX problems cancelled the planned lease on March 22.

Virgin Group News

Virgin Australia withdrew 737- 8FE VH-YVA from service on February 23 with the aircraft then being transferred to operations with Tigerair (see below). The aircraft was scheduled on its final flight for Virgin Australia on February 23 when it operated VOZ965 from Sydney to Brisbane.

Later the same day it was ferried from Brisbane to Townsville as VOZ9930 where, on arrival, it entered the Flying Colours hangar for painting in Tigerair colours. This was completed by March 3 when the aircraft ferried from Townsville to Melbourne as VOZ9931 (see Tiger Airways below) Virgin Regional A320-232 VH-VNB, which had been painted in VARA colours while at Seletar, arrived in Perth as TGG9002 on March 23.

Fokker 50 VH-FNH, which has been in storage at Seletar since December 2016 and still carries Skywest titles, has been sold to Leading Edge Air Services in the Philippines and, as a result, has been registered to Leading Edge as RP-C7636.

Fokker 50 VH-FNB, which has also been in storage at Seletar since December 2016, has also been sold to Leading Edge Air Services and has been registered to them as RP-C9943.

Tigerair has added 737-8FE VH-YVA to its fleet (see Virgin Australia above) with the aircraft delivered to Melbourne in Tigerair colours on March 3. The aircraft had still not entered service with Tigerair by early April.

Regional Airline News

In this issue we report the delivery of an ATR 72-600 to Air Tahiti and a Cessna 208B to Milford Sound Flights while departing was a Broome Air Services Cessna 208B.

Air Tahiti took delivery of ATR 72-600 F-ORVI msn 1047 in late March. The ferry flight was contracted to Southern Cross as SXI1926 and on March 27/28 the white ATR 72-600 ferried from Lombok to Nadi via Darwin and Cairns.

Broome Air Services Cessna 208B VH-TLH was cancelled from the register on March 8 and the same day was registered N208CJ to Skydive, Saipan. On March 28 it left the Gold Coast for Noumea, Apia and Honolulu.

Hardy Aviation registered Cessna 208B VH-UOL msn 208B5496 on January 18.

Hevilift ferried ATR 42-500 P2-KSA from Cairns to Port Moresby on completion of planned maintenance.

Milford Sound Flights took delivery of Cessna 208B N263SW msn 208B2003 at Ardmore on March 14 after it ferried in from Apia and Auckland. It was later registered as ZK-MCS on March 22.

Mission Aviation Fellowship Cessna 208 P2-MAJ msn 20800614 ex N614MF (Traffic/January) departed Mareeba on March 29 for Horn Island and Mount Hagen and entry into service.

MAF Airvan 8 P2-MFG departed Mount Hagen on March 22 for Horn Island and Mareeba while Airvan 8s P2-MFL and P2- MEW left Mount Hagen on the same route on March 27.

Pel-Air Aviation Short 3-30 VH-KNO, which had been stored at Alice Springs airport for many years, has been moved to Leichardt NSW.

Pelorus Air registered Airvan 8 ZK-PEL msn GA8-14-206, ex VH-OHN, on March 13 (see Ferry Flights April ‘19) Penjet of Applecross WA became the registered owner/ operator of Beech 1900C VH-FWA on January 15.

Sounds Air took delivery of PC-12/47 VH-YWO at Omaka on March 12 after the aircraft ferried in from Adelaide via Sydney and Wellington. It was delivered in the colours of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Talofa Airways, which took delivery of Commander 690B N173DB at Apia on December 18, later registered the aircraft as 5W-LOR. Torres Strait Air BN-2A-8 VH-MBF departed Archerfield on March 11 for the Gold Coast and Port Vila where, on March 20, it was cancelled from the Australian register as exported to Vanuatu.

Bizjet News

In this issue we report the delivery of a Learjet 60 while departing was a Learjet 35A and three King Air B300s.

Learjet 60 N118CP msn 60- 108 was delivered to Nowra on March 14 after the aircraft crossed the Pacific from Atwater/CA via Honolulu, Apia and the Gold Coast.

RAAF Falcon 7X A56-001 msn 283 call sign ASY303 was reported departing Bordeaux for Little Rock on March 29.

Pilatus PC-24 HB-VSS msn 118, which also carried the registration VH-FMP, was noted at Stans, Switzerland on January 2.

Learjet 35A VH-LJA, operated by Air Affairs (Australia), was cancelled from the register on February 22 after being exported to Canada. It was later registered C-GTXE to Top Aces of Dorval, Canada on February 26.

Global Express 7500 C-FXAI msn 70006 arrived at Melbourne from Male on March 12 at the start of a demonstration tour of Australia. It was later noted at Sydney, Perth and Essendon before departing Melbourne for overseas.

Phenom 500 N676EE, which was displayed at Avalon (Traffic/ April), left Essendon for Brisbane on March 5 before continuing to Darwin on March 6.

Citation CJ-3+ N46LW, which arrived at Avalon on February 24 and was then displayed as a static exhibit at the airshow (Traffic/April ’19), has since left the country. It left Essendon for Queenstown on March 6 before arriving at Sydney from Auckland on March 10. It subsequently departed from Sydney for Cairns on March 12 and after overnighting continued to Darwin and Subang.

Citation Bravo N28SP (Traffic/April) left Essendon for Christchurch on March 8 before continuing to Auckland on March 10. It returned to Essendon on March 11 before departing to Noumea on March 14.

Jhonlin Air Transport Hawker 900XP PK-JBB arrived at Perth from Kupang on March 25.

Jhonlin Air Transport Hawker 800XP PK-YGR arrived at Melbourne from Kupang on March 29 before departing to Dunedin on March 30.

Harenvale Australasia King Air B300 VH-YZI departed Cairns for Biak on March 2 with onwards ferry to a new owner in the US. It was cancelled from the Australian register on March 12 before becoming N735CA on March 15 with Commuter Air Technology of Oklahoma City.

Harenvale Australasia King Air B300 VH-YZK was cancelled from the register on March 5 on its sale to Commuter Air Technology as N844CA. It was noted ferrying from Cebu to Anchorage via Naha, Sendai, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Nome before arriving at Oklahoma City on March 2. It was then registered N844CA to Commuter Air Technology on March 15.

Harenvale Australasia King Air B300 VH-YZN was cancelled from the register on March 28 after leaving Cairns for Biak on March 22 following the North Pacific ferry route to the US before arriving at Oklahoma City on March 25.

Inrock Drilling Systems King Air B200 N625BW msn BB-1090 departed Cairns for Honiara on March 19.

Cessna 441 VH-NAX 4410106, which was registered to Pulse Aero of Export Park, SA, changed its registration to VH-VJL on March 20.

Commander 690A VH-MLG msn 11101, which was registered to GAM Air of Essendon Fields, was cancelled from the register on March 21 as ‘withdrawn from use’.

Ferry Flights

Agusta-Westland AW-139 G-VINC msn 31478, in company with Agusta Westland AW-139 G-VINJ msn 41355, were air-freighted into Melbourne on February 28. After being unloaded from Antonov 124 RA-82044 the two AW-139s were transferred by road to Essendon where, on March 11, they were placed on the Australian register.

At Essendon both helicopters were registered to Babcock Offshore Services Australasia of Adelaide with G-VINC becoming VH-NLT and G-VINJ becoming VH-NLU.

Lloyd Helicopters AW-139 VH-PXF arrived at Essendon on February 25 after ferrying in from Ceduna, Adelaide and Mount Gambier.

Baron 58 VH-UKL departed Moorabbin on March 23 for Port Macquarie and Lord Howe Island.

Gateway Air Center Cessna 208B N531FT msn 208B5488 arrived at Adelaide on March 15 after ferrying in from Merced via Honolulu, Apia, Gold Coast, Redcliffe and Mildura.

Cessna U206G/FP VH-ODL ex ZK-KPM departed New Plymouth for Ardmore and Kerikeri on March 4 before continuing to Lord Howe Island, Gold Coast and Archerfield on March 5.

Cessna 172S VH-DIC has been exported to New Zealand and on March 14 it departed Archerfield for Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, Kerikeri and Nelson where it arrived on March 16. VH-DIC was cancelled from the Australian register on March 20.

Diamond DA-42NG N25HS, which was on a round-the-world flight, arrived at Bankstown on March 5 from Auckland, Norfolk Island and the Gold Coast.

Diamond DA-62 N118CY arrived at Jandakot on March 24 from Subang via Kuching, Lombok, Broome and Meekatharra and departed on March 28 on return to Meekatharra and Broome.

Bell Geospace Aviation Basler BT-67 C-FTGX left Dili for Pontianak, Indonesia on March 18.

GippsAero Airvan 8 ZK-PEL msn GA8-14-206 ex VH-OHN (Traffic/April) was registered to Pelorus Air of Blenheim on March 13.

PAC750XL VH-KEK msn 221 was registered to Pacific Aerospace on March 13.

Pilatus PC-21 HB-HWA call sign PCH60A, in company with PC-21 HB-HWB call sign PCH61A, were delivered to RAAF Base East Sale on January 21 after ferrying in from Stans, Switzerland via Kupang, Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide. The PC-21s were later allocated the RAAF serial numbers A54-027 and A54-028.

Pilatus PC-21 HB-HWC, call sign PCH62T, in company with PC-21 HB-HWD, call sign PCH62T, were delivered to East Sale on February 19 after ferrying in from Stans via Kupang, Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide. The PC-21s were later allocated the RAAF serial numbers A54-029 and A54-030.

Pilatus PC-21 HB-HWE, call sign PCH64C, in company with PC-21 HB-HWF, call sign PCH65S, were delivered to East Sale on March 18 after ferrying in from Stans via Kupang, Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide. The PC-21s were later allocated the RAAF serial numbers A54-031 and A54-032.

PA-24-250 HB-OVW in company with CTLS HB-WYB (Traffic/April) left Lord Howe Island for Kerikeri on March 9 before continuing to Ardmore on March 11.

Babcock Offshore Services Australasia Sikorsky S-92A VH-NYZ arrived at Darwin from Truscott on February 19 before being cancelled from the Australian register on March 8 as ‘exported to the UK’.

Babcock Offshore Services Australasia Sikorsky S-92A VH-NWD arrived at Darwin from Truscott on February 7 before being cancelled from the Australian register on March 8 as ‘exported to the UK’.

Sikorsky UH-60A N9FH/231, which carries Touchdown Helicopters titles but is registered to Brainerd Helicopters of Leesburg, Florida, arrived at Essendon from Albury on March 5 before moving to Healesville where it was involved in fighting the Gippsland fires.

Heavy Metal

Volga-Dnepr Airlines Antonov An- 124 RA-82046 as flight VDA1778 arrived at Adelaide from Clark International and Darwin on March 15 before leaving Darwin for Kuala Lumpur as VDA1779 on March 21.

Cargolux 747-4HQF LX-ECV as CV7943 arrived at Avalon from Singapore on March 19 and departed the same day for Singapore as CV7952. The aircraft was carrying equipment for the Australian Grand Prix, as was Cargolux 747-8R7F LX-VCB which arrived at Avalon as CV8705 from Hong Kong on March 9 and departed as CV8705 to Singapore, and Cargolux 747-8R7F LX-VCE which departed Avalon for Hong Kong as CV6752 on March 6.

Cargo Logic Air 747-83QF G-CLAB arrived at Avalon on March 10 as CLU5618 and departed as CLU907 to Hong Kong on March 11.

Finally, Atlas Air 747-45E(F) N486MC as GTI8352 arrived at Avalon from Singapore on March 10 and departed the same day as GTI8353 to Hong Kong.

Aramco Associated 767-2AX N767A transited through Perth on March 28 while en-route from Riyadh to Christchurch, and transited Perth on March 29 on return.

Boeing Company 737-77Z/ BBJ N839BA, call sign RDN248, arrived at Sydney on March 23 from Zhoushan, China before continuing to Melbourne on March 26.

United States of America C-40B/737-7DM 01-0040, call sign SAM215, arrived at Sydney from Paya Lebar on March 10.

Universal Entertainment A318-112(CJ) 9H-UEC, call sign MLM318, arrived at Darwin from Kuching on March 17 before returning to Kuching on March 19.

Volga-Dnepr Ilyushin 76-90VD RA-76950, call sign VDA1589, arrived at Perth from Incheon and Kota Kinabalu on March 15 before departing to Denpasar and Clark International on March 16.

Coulson Flying Tankers Lockheed EC-130Q N130CG, which had terminated its fireattack contract, departed RAAF Richmond on March 15 for Norfolk Island, Pago Pago and Hilo.

USAF Lockheed MC-130J 13-5776, call sign GACH 012, in company with USAF Lockheed MC-130H 86-1699, call sign GACH 011, arrived at Whenuapai on March 13 from Townsville and Richmond. Both took part in exercise ‘Nocturnal Reach 2019’. The aircraft left Whenuapai for Richmond and Townsville on March 24.

Royal Canadian Air Force Lockheed CP-140 Aurora 140117, as FC611, arrived at Brisbane from Pago Pago on March 24 before continuing to Perth on March 25. On March 28, the aircraft left Perth for Diego Garcia.