Falconair Pty Ltd Dassault-Mystere Falcon 20-F5 VH-FAI touches down at Bundaberg

It was an interesting day at Bundaberg Airport on Wednesday, February 15, with either first time or seldom visiting aircraft touching down at the rum city.

Among the activity was Falconair Pty Ltd Dassault-Mystere Falcon 20-F5 VH-FAI flying north from Sydney, and after spending a few hours parked at Bundaberg Airport, departed to Coolangatta / Gold Coast.

Cobham Aviation / Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 VH-XND conducted airwork above Bundaberg and surrounding region for quite sometime after flying south from Cairns in the afternoon.

Eventually, the Search & Rescue (SAR) jet landed at Bundaberg Airport, presumably to take onboard fuel, before returning to Cairns.

Local planespotter, Micah S, also sighted Surveillance Australia / Australian Border Force (ABF) de Havilland Dash 8-200 VH-ZZP parked at the airport while photographing VH-FAI. Unfortunately, activity of the aircraft is unknown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All photo's contributed by Micah S.

Nauru Airlines Boeing 737-300 VH-XNU operates a charter flight to Gladstone

At the height of the LNG construction on Curtis Island near Gladstone a couple of years ago, Our Airline, now known as Nauru Airlines, operated semi-frequent charter flights between Brisbane and the port city, however, that slowly regressed as construction matured.

 

Until this week, Nauru Airlines has not flown to Gladstone for quite some time, but a private charter brought Boeing 737-300 VH-XNU to the region when it operated a late evening flight from Brisbane to Gladstone as RON900 on Thursday, February 16.

 

According to a Gladstone Observer article, VH-XNU it expected to remain at the port city until late evening on Friday, February 17, but did not highlight what destination the classic Boeing will fly to, perhaps back to Brisbane.  

 

UPDATE : It appears VH-XNU was chartered by the Australian Federal Government to transfer 29 illegal Vietnamese fisherman intercepted off the coast of Gladstone to Darwin.

 

Nauru Airlines is the national airline of the 'Republic of Nauru', and operates scheduled international services to other Pacific Islands and Australia. Of interest, the main base and head office of Nauru Airlines is located at Nauru International Airport, however, the operations office is situated in Brisbane, Queensland.

 

Nauru Airlines also offers charter flights to various locations in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, south and central Pacific.

 

At present, Nauru Airlines operates a fleet of six Boeing 737-300 aircraft with each configured in a 130-seat / 2-class layout servicing Brisbane (Australia), Majuro (Marshall Islands), Nadi (Fiji), Nauru (Nauru) and Tarawa (Kiribati). A lone Boeing 737-300F is also operated. 

 

To learn more about Nauru Airlines, a review of the company can be located at : 

 

http://airqueensland.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/nauru-airlines-formerly-our-airline.html