Corporate Corner - updated

Sunday 27 December proved to be a busy day for corporate jets around our skies.

The day started with the arrival at Auckland of Kayne Anderson Capital Global Express N801KF from Van Nuys via Pago Pago and it was met by the owners EC130 ZK-HTI and AS350 N609MK which both departed northbound with the owner's yacht "SuRi" moored at Whangarei.
N801KF has received a new paint scheme since its last visit to NZ.

N801KF was followed an hour later by Alticor/Amway Gulfstream G550 N250DV arriving from Grand Rapids, MI via Honolulu. The owners EC130 N716LY has been noted flying around the Auckland region.

Gaas Labs/Macair Inc Gulfstream 5 N54BS arrived at Auckland early evening from Honolulu. It flew to Queenstown 30 December and as this post went to air it was on its way to Honolulu. 

Vista Equity Partners Global N283DM arrived at Queenstown from Auckland as TWY66. The Global's passengers arrived at Auckland on board Bell 429 ZK-HXW and EC130 ZK-IVJ.

Executive Jet Management Gulfstream G550 N94LF departed Queenstown mid morning for Cairns.

Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation Gulfstream G650ER N650GD (6149) made a brief visit to the scenic south arriving at Queenstown from Sydney and departing to Essendon. It departed Essendon 30 December for Hong Kong.

N650GD soon after its arrival at Essendon. 

MK Air's Falcon 7X M-GMKM (ex VH-MQK) arriving from Mildura and Sydney. 

Monday 28 December saw Challenger VH-MXK arrived at Queenstown from the Gold Coast and then position to Dunedin.

Tuesday 29 December and Gulfstream G550 M-GVSP had repairs completed and it departed Auckland for Nadi and continued to Singapore/Seletar 30 December.

Phenom 100 VH-PNM, operated by Gojet, arrived at Queenstown 29 December from Essendon via Hobart and flew to Kerikeri 30 December then to Tauranga 31 December joining Wellington based Citation III N163JM.

Thanks to "Anon" for this shot taken at Tauranga. 

30 December saw Gulfstream 5 N50KC depart Auckland mid morning for Gisborne.

Mellon Financial Falcon 900 N83SV arrived at Auckland from Kona via Apia on the afternoon of 30 December.

Galaxy Entertainment Group of Hong Kong Gulfstream G650 VP-BLF, operated by Tag Aviation Asia, arrived at Queenstown from Hobart on the afternoon of 31 December as TBJ72. The G650, named "Galaxy II" had arrived at Hobart a few days earlier direct from Hong Kong. The owners also operate a Challenger 850 VP-BNY "Galaxy I". (thanks to Larkair for the background information). VP-BLF joined Execujet New Zealand's Gulfstream G650 ZK-KFB on the Queenstown ramp with it having arrived from the Gold Coast earlier in the day. It had departed Wellington Boxing Day for Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Still parked at Auckland 30 December:
Citation II N112BR
Global's N801KF, N612FB, N9641 (hangared)
Gulfstream G550 N250DV

First Boeing 747-8i to New Zealand

Boeing's latest iteration of the Queen of the Skies is nearing its first visit to New Zealand with Korean Air Lines set to operate the Boeing 747-8i (intercontinental) on its its Incheon-Auckland service. 

Woodys Aeroimages. 

As mentioned previously, KE129/130 will be operated by the -8i on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with the first visit planned to be 06 January 2016 and from 02 February through until 01 March inclusive it will operate daily arriving at 0810 and departing at 0955.

The passenger version of the Boeing 747-8 has taken time to gain traction with the type predominately employed in the freighter role.

So far the following operators have taken delivery of the -8:
Abu Dhabi Amiri Flight - 2 BBJ variants
Air China - 7 Intercontinental
AirBridgeCargo - 8 freighters
Atlas Air/Polar Air Cargo - 9 freighters
Boeing/Boeing Business Jets - 7 airframes
Cargolux - 13 freighters
Cathay Pacific Cargo - 13 freighters
Etihad - 1 freighter (leased from Atlas Air)
Lufthansa - 19 Intercontinental
Nippon Cargo Airlines - 8 freighters with 6 on order
Qatar Amiri Flight - 2 BBJ variants
Royal Flight of Oman - 1 BBJ variant (stored)
Saudi Arabian Airlines - 2 freighters
Silk Way West Airlines - 3 freighters
State of Kuwait - 1 BBJ variant (stored/fitout at Dallas/Love Field)
Worldwide Aircraft Holdings - 1 BBJ

Korean Air Lines - 4 Intercontinentals and 6 freighters

http://www.airlinereporter.com/2015/08/korean-air-celebrates-delivery-first-boeing-747-8i/

Airwork/Toll Freighters

Airwork Flight Operations/Toll Boeing 737-400F ZK-JTQ arrived at Auckland from Brisbane on the evening of 28 December as "Airwork 737" and was inducted to the operator's hangar presumably for a maintenance visit.

Airwork Flight Operations/Toll Boeing 737-300F ZK-TLE arrived at Auckland from Melbourne and Sydney in the early hours of 30 December as "Toll Freight 92" and departed for Melbourne as TFR93.

Lancair IV N6ZQ - UPDATED

Bill Harrelson and his modified Lancair IV N6ZQ crossed the equator 23 December New Zealand time flying from Christmas Island to Rarotonga. The long haul champions are making much shorter hops than previous flights around the Pacific as they head to New Zealand for a couple of months vacation so keep an eye out for them as they traverse the country.

Bill and his wife subsequently arrived at Auckland International shortly before 1530 29 December after a direct, 10 hour flight from Rarotonga. 

N6ZQ visited NZ earlier this year arriving at Auckland from Papeete on 10 January before proceeding to Hamilton for maintenance. Then two days later it made the short flight back to Auckland and cleared customs before embarking on a direct, 21hr 7min flight to Honolulu. 

This trip Down Under started out from San Diego/Brown Field for Molokai 14 December then onto Christmas Island from Hilo 21 December (NZ dates).

N6ZQ resting at EAA Oshkosh 2015. 

Fiji Airways Airbus A330-300 DQ-FJW - UPDATE IN ITALICS

www.planepictures.net

In January this year Fiji Airways announced an order for the larger Airbus A330-300 to compliment their fleet of three -200 series A330's to expand international services from the nation's capital, Nadi.

Airbus A330-343 MSN 1692 was assigned Airbus test registration F-WWYU prior to its first flight which took place from Toulouse 18 December 2015. 

The widebody airliner, configured with 24 business and 289 economy seats,  arrived Nadi from Hong Kong mid morning 29 December as FJI2002 registered DQ-FJW.

It is expected to enter service as follows:

On Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 06 January until 14 January 

FJ411 NAN-AKL ETA 1245

FJ410 AKL-NAN ETD 1400

From 15 January it will be deployed on high density routes such as Nadi-Los Angeles and Nadi-Sydney. 

Last month the airline announced its intention to commence a twice weekly direct service from Nadi to Singapore flying Airbus A330-200's from 05 April 2016. 

The Fiji Airways fleet now consists of:

A330-300 DQ-FJW

A330-200 DQ-FJT, FJU, FJV

B737-700 DQ-FJF

B737-800 DQ-FJG, FJH, FJM, FJN

ATR42-600 DQ-FJY

ATR72-600 DQ-FJX, FJZ

DHC6-300 DQ-FIE, PSD, PSE 

RAAF C-17A Globemaster III Mission to Antarctica

An interesting video covering the first visit by a Royal Australian Air Force Globemaster III to Antarctica. The visit to Wilkins took place 05 November 2015 with C17 A41-208 arriving from and returning to Hobart as callsign "Stallion 11". 

Emirates A380-800 A6-EDV

We've for the most part conceded defeat on trying to keep a track of first time visits for commercial airliners to New Zealand thanks to the proliferation of new carriers to our shores and for anyone interested in tracking such things there is ample on-line resource to find such information.

However, for the record, Emirates operated an additional service through Auckland 26 December following the cancellation Christmas Day of their EK434/435 service from/to Brisbane. Airbus A380-800 A6-EDV, configured with 14F, 76J and 427Y seats, was positioned to Brisbane from Bangkok at EK2549 and then operated EK434D to Auckland returning three hours later to Brisbane as EK435D. Its middle of the day service saw Auckland host five A380's during the course of the day with fellow Emirates aircraft A6-EDE, A6-EDN and A6-EEL along with Singapore Airlines 9V-SKI. 

A6-EDV taxiing for departure as 9V-SKI commences take-off roll. 

Gulfstream G550 M-GVSP - Updated

Aptly registered Gulfstream G550 (GV-SP) M-GVSP arrived at Queenstown on the morning of 21 December direct from Hong Kong as TBJ10. Operated on behalf of its Chinese owners by Tag Aviation Asia the G550 is making its first visit to New Zealand however our records have it noted arriving at Port Vila from Beijing back on 09 November 2013 and returning to its point of origin five days later and in the June of 2013 it made an appearance at Sydney.

The G550 departed Queenstown on the morning of 26 December destined for Nadi however after flying halfway between NZ and Fiji did a 180 degree turn and diverted to Auckland where it is seen here undertow to the DHL apron which is vacant for the next few days. 

M-GVSP was previously registered N671RW and operated on behalf of Coca Cola from 2007 until 2010. 

Global 6000 N612FG

Adding to the small gaggle of corporate jets visiting NZ this festive season was the arrival at Auckland Christmas morning of Global 6000 N612FG. The jet arrived from Champaign, IL via Honolulu and is operated by The Flightstar Corp. 

Aircraft Services photo

This year's festive gathering of corporate jets pails into insignificance after the efforts of 2014
http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/corporate-corner_29.html
http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2014/12/phew-what-day.html

As at 25 December 2015:
Auckland - Globals N9641, N283DM, N412FG, Gulfstream 5 N50KC
Queenstown - Gulfstream G550 N94LF and M-GVSP

XH558's Final Flight (inc: onboard footage) 28th October 2015

Very nicely presented video, turn up the volume!

Mt Cook Airline ATR72-600's - updated

A trio of Mt Cook ATR72-212A (600 series) have been added to the ZK register in recent days ahead of their delivery flights to Australasia.

First off the blocks from Toulouse was MSN 1299 registered ZK-MVO and strangely in primer only. It arrived at Townsville for induction to the Flying Colours paint facility on the afternoon of 21 December routing via Alexandria, Al Ain, Nagpur, Penang and Kupang as SXI1544.

Still wearing its ATR test registration F-WWEE, ZK-MVO is seen here departing Toulouse last week. Thanks to Moto Ohmura for the photo. 

And arriving at Townsville, Michael Power photo

Second was MSN 1304 registered ZK-MVH and it departed Toulouse 19 December for Alexandria, Al Ain, Nagpur, Penang, Kupang, Brisbane and it arrived as anticipated at Hamilton on Christmas Eve as SXI1532. 

Under tow to the Eagle Air maintenance facility at Hamilton, MRC Aviation photo

And last but not least MSN 1306 should be registered ZK-MVI this week and follow the same route as ZK-MVH arriving into Hamilton 03 January as SXI1536. 

Merry Christmas

To our friends, contributors and followers - We wish you a very 

Merry Christmas! 

Have a wonderful holiday season with family and friends.

Thank you for your support and encouragement and most importantly contributions that make this blog possible.

Mighty Boeing 727 landing on dirt airstrip

Thanks to Tim G for passing on the link to this interesting compilation of video taken a few blue moons ago but well worth a look!

Global 6000 N283DM

Arriving at Auckland 22 December was Vista Equity Partners Global 6000 N283DM. The jet, using the callsign "Twilight 66", arrived from Maui having arrived a couple of days earlier from Austin, TX.

Also arriving in the country 22 December was Gulfstream G550 N94LF. Operated by Executive Jet Management, this aircraft arrived at Queenstown from Nadi. It had arrived in Fiji from Waukegan, IL via Honolulu 18 December.

NZ has also had visits from Falcon 20 VH-PNY, Learjet 36 VH-JCX and Citation IIII VH-SSZ in recent days.

Christmas Delivery - Operation Christmas Drop 2015

This year's Operation Christmas Drop included participants from the Japanese Air Self Defence Force and Royal Australian Air Force who provided a Lockheed C130J Hercules.

Some fantastic coverage in the links below along with the accompanying video.

Hercules line-up at Andersen AFB, Guam. US Air Force photo.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/12/19/air-force-brings-unlikely-christmas-remote-pacific-islands/77412790/

http://airforcelive.dodlive.mil/2015/12/operation-christmas-drop-2015/

Piper PA28RT ZK-LGL

Piper PA28RT-201T ZK-LGL was spied crossing the Tasman Sea 20 December. Most recently registered to Excalibur Trust of Ohope (east of Whakatane), the Turbo Arrow departed Kerikeri for Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island and Camden, NSW - hopefully just on a summer vacation and not an export.

ZK-LGL has been a NZ resident since September 1997 when it arrived as N4313L. 

At Hokitika March 2007

Pilatus PC12 ZK-TIL - update in italics

Pilatus PC12 ZK-TIL was imported to New Zealand in August 2013 and was a first of type when it entered the New Zealand register. It arrived from Australia as VH-ZBD and after several local flights under its VH marks ended up at Fielding for certification work before being registered to Tari Iti Holdings of Wellsford. 

The PC12 has spent much of its time idle at Fielding with periodic spells of flying activity but its association with the golf course development north of Auckland may have come to an end as the aircraft crossed the Tasman Sea 16 December. Starting from Fielding, the PC12 flew to Auckland to clear customs formalities then made its way direct to Lord Howe Island reaching the small Australian outpost after a four hour flight. Its next leg was direct to Maungindi, New South Wales then to Dingadee just across the state border in Queensland. Its big day out finally came to an end when it flew from Dingadee to the Sunshine Coast where it overnighted and flew south to the Gold Coast the following morning.

Online records show an ownership change to Aviation Partners PTY of Manly, NSW as of 21 December. 

ZK-TIL at Ardmore February 2014. 

White and Black

A brief visit to Auckland International 18 December netted a trio of aircraft that were of interest to me. 

First up was the arrival at the heliport located adjacent to the international terminal building of Advanced Flight's Bell 429 ZK-IUL. It was listed with the Pikes Point, Onehunga based corporate helicopter operator on 07 July 2014 having first been noted at their base in February 2014 registered VP-CUL. Advanced Flight are the sole operator of the three Bell 429's in NZ with the other two machines, ZK-HXW and ZK-IXW also based at Pikes Point. 

Next to cruise past the camera lens was Air New Zealand's recently repainted All Black Airbus A320 ZK-OAB arriving from Wellington as NZ418. It was my first opportunity to catch up with it since its return from Townsville on 10 December.

Lastly is Airwork's most recently delivered Boeing 737-400 ZK-PAK parked up awaiting its next mail run to Christchurch.

Challenger 604 HB-JRB - UPDATED

REGA Swiss Air Ambulance Challenger 604 HB-JRB arrived at Christchurch on the evening of 18 December from Zurich via Zahedan (Iran), Abul Aziz Shah (Kuala Lumpur) and Cairns.

REGA operate three Challenger 604's and a fleet of 17 helicopters.

The Challenger departed Christchurch on the afternoon of 20 December for Cairns and Hat Yai, Thailand.

http://www.rega.ch/de/ueber-uns.aspx

M Hayes photo 

Gulfstream G550 N540W departs

Harpo Inc (Oprah Winfrey) Gulfstream G550 N540W departed Auckland 17 December for Nadi.

The aircraft's personalised registration alludes to the Oprah's year of birth - 1954 - and the 0W, her initials albeit a figure 0 as opposed to the letter O. Thanks to Larkair for this insight.

Aircraft Services photo

China Southern Airlines to Christchurch

China Southern Airlines commenced regular scheduled services to Christchurch utlising Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners flying three times per week direct from Guangzhou. The first flight arrived at Christchurch 16 December as CZ617 using B-2787 and departing several hours later as CZ618. 

Flights will operate through Christchurch Wednesday, Friday and Sunday year round with no doubt a potential for an increase in frequency if demand dictates. 

This is not the first time China Southern has graced the apron at Christchurch with the airline having previously operated seasonal charter flights.

Thanks to Graham W for these brilliant shots 

RAAF Boeing BBJ visits Christchurch

Royal Australian Air Force Boeing 737 BBJ A36-002 spent several hours at Christchurch earlier this week when it carried Australian Senator and Defence Minister Marise Payne to a meeting with NZ Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee.

http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/australia-new-zealand-defence-ministers’-meet

A36-002, as ASY1101, arrived at Christchurch from Richmond 14 December and was met by two RNZAF NH90 MRH NZ3302 and NZ3305 with the helicopters employed to transport the party to Wigram and later on a scenic flight over the Christchurch CBD. The BBJ then departed Christchurch on its return to Richmond.

Lineage N666GL departs

Chinese based Embraer E190 Lineage N666GL concluded its New Zealand visit departing from Queenstown for Christchurch and Bali 16 December. The jet had arrived at Auckland from Saipan 08 December and flew to Napier 11 December where it overnighted before continuing to Queenstown 12 December. 

Thanks to Matt H for this shot of it departing Christchurch

Air New Zealand Welcomed To Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport IAH

Air New Zealand introduced Houston, Texas to its route network from 15 December operating Boeing 777-200ER's five times per week from Auckland operating as NZ28 northbound and NZ29 southbound. 

NZ28 is scheduled to take 13hr 45min while NZ29 is scheduled at 14hr 30min. 

The first flight was operated by ZK-OKF and per flight tracking website www.flightaware.com  NZ28 took 12hr 41min flight time while NZ29 was planned to take 14hr 25min. 

Flights will depart Auckland daily except Monday and Saturday through until early March when flight days change to daily except Monday and Tuesday. Further schedule changes take place during the month but remain at five times weekly. 

Airbus A319CJ 9H-AVK departs

Comlux Malta's Airbus A319CJ 9H-AVK departed Auckland mid morning 16 December for Sydney as MLM26 following the ACDC rock concert held at Western Springs the previous night. Its arrival into Sydney however was thwarted by thunderstorm activity and it was diverted to Canberra where it remained for a few hours before finally reaching Sydney.

Aircraft Services photo

Photo supplied

Boeing 737-400 ZK-PAK enters service

Seasonal freight demand saw Airwork Flight Operations recently delivered Boeing 737-400 freighter ZK-PAK enter service on the afternoon of 15 December flying from Auckland to Christchurch as "Post 73" and returning north as "Post 74". 

The ex Australian Airlines/Qantas passenger jet was mentioned in a blogpost recently when it was delivered to Auckland from the USA post freighter conversion.

ZK-PAK in what is now typical Airwork "colours" arriving at Christchurch 15 December. 

Jetstar Boeing 787-8 Seasonal NZ services

As of 14 December, Jetstar have reintroduced the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to select services through Auckland on a seasonal basis to cater for summer demand. VH-VKJ operated the first flights as JQ195 from Melbourne to Auckland then onto Sydney as JQ196 before later heading to Honolulu as JST3.

15 December saw VH-VKD operate as JQ38 from Bali to Sydney then JQ197 to Auckland and JQ198 from Auckland to Melbourne.

Flights will operate for the next few Mondays and Tuesdays.

File photo - VH-VKA arrives at Auckland February 2014 

Gulfstream G550 N540W

Harpo Inc (aka Oprah Winfrey) Gulfstream G550 N540W touched down at Auckland on the evening of 13 December from Sydney carrying the widely acclaimed talkshow host to her first ever New Zealand visit.

Falcon 7X B-8203

Shenghong Group's Falcon 7X B-8203 touched down at Auckland late afternoon 12 December arriving from Shanghai via a techstop at Cairns as "Deerjet 502". The 7X departed Auckland late afternoon 15 December for the Gold Coast.

First visit to our shores by this 2013 edition Falcon.

Casa in the Capital

Overnight 12 December Wellington hosted French Armee de L'air Casa 235 52-IC/65 with the transporter arriving direct from Noumea as "Cotam 1161". It departed late morning 13 December for Norfolk Island and Noumea.

A Casa 235 is expected for Exercise Skytrain to be hosted at Napier in January 2016.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11553290

Lineage N666GL

Beijing based Embraer E190 Lineage 1000 N666GL has made its first visit to New Zealand arriving at Auckland late on the evening of 08 December from Saipan where it had arrived two days prior from its home port.

Operated on behalf of Yu Heng Investments Corporation, the Lineage has visited Australia and the South Pacific previously with it most recently been noted arriving at Sydney from Honolulu and Pago Pago on 25 September this year then flying to Hamilton Island the next day. It returned to Sydney 03 October and late the same night flew out to Darwin and Beijing.

The Lineage departed Auckland for Napier yesterday afternoon marking what I believe to be the first visit to Hawkes Bay by an Embraer 190. Its visit to the Bay was brief with it flying onto Queenstown late on the afternoon of 12 December.

Airbus A319CJ 9H-AVK

Comlux Aviation (Malta) Airbus A319-115CJ 9H-AVK arrived at Wellington from Melbourne on the evening of 11 December as MLM26 carrying legendary rock band AC/DC.

The corporate configured airliner has been tasked with carrying the band for the last few weeks first arriving at Sydney from Manila on 10 November and has since zigzagged across Australia visiting the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. 

Lanzi photos

Airbus A320 ZK-OAB - UPDATED

Air New Zealand's first dedicated domestically configured Airbus A320-200
ZK-OAB, wearing the distinctive All Black livery since its delivery in January 2011, departed Christchurch for Townsville 25 November as NZ6202. 

The A320 was inducted to the Flying Colours Aviation paintshop and fully stripped before being repainted in the most recent edition of the All Black livery as worn by Boeing 787-9 ZK-NZE and ATR72-600 ZK-MVA. This leaves Boeing 777-300 
ZK-OKQ and Beech 1900D ZK-EAG in the original All Black colours. 

ZK-OAB was ferried from Townsville back to Christchurch arriving on the evening of 10 December as NZ6203. 

The old...............

And the new.......... G Weatherby photo

In other Air New Zealand Airbus news, regional A320 ZK-OJN departed Christchurch 24 November for Cairns as NZ6002 and the following day flew onto Singapore/Changi under the same flight number presumably for a maintenance visit. ZK-OJN flew from Singapore back to Cairns 10 December and onto Auckland the following afternoon. 

Boeing 777 freighter A6-EFG

Making a nocturnal visit to Auckland 11 December was Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777-F1H A6-EFG. The custom built freighter arrived during the first hour of the day from Singapore and Sydney as UAE9820 departing a couple of hours later for Hong Kong.

First visit by A6-EFG to New Zealand. 

File photo - A6-EFL arriving at Christchurch June 2014, M Hayes photo