Townsville Airlines Cessna 208 Caravan VH-NXU First Visit into CQ at the Labona Station Airstrip - Plus More!

On Tuesday 4 July, it was interesting to note that Townsville Airlines Cessna 208 Caravan VH-NXU has (possibly?) made its first ever visit into Central Queensland, flying into the Labona Station Airstrip within Adani Australia's (Bravus Mining & Resources) Carmichael Coal Mine site from Cairns and then Townsville.  It then returned to those places.

File photo

VH-NXU was delivered and registered to Townsville Airlines in September 2022.  It was previously registered as N406CR.  VH-NXU seems to mostly operate out of Cairns Airport so if this is indeed its first visit to the region, it is a welcome sight!

Meanwhile, also on Tuesday 4 July, some of the 'usual' FIFO charter flights included Southern Air Beech 1900 VH-YSO visiting Moranbah Airport once again.  It arrived from Latrobe Valley and Bourke Dubbo and then departed back to Latrobe Valley and then eventually to Melbourne (Moorabbin).

DeGunst Transport P/L Textron (Cessna) 208 Caravan VH-NPZ operated from Bundaberg Airport and looked to fly in and out of Mackay Airport.  I presume the inclement weather in the area prevented it from landing at Nebo Aerodrome.

While Hinterland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan VH-TFS also encountered bad weather and was unable to land at Mackay Airport while flying down from Townsville as HND2290.  It returned to Townsville without landing and obviously was unable to complete its usual run out to Labona.

The Queensland Police Service (Airwing) (State of Queensland) Raytheon B1900D VH-PSK flew down from Cairns and Townsville to Rockhampton Airport.  It then continued to Brisbane before later returning to Rockhampton Airport and then back to Cairns direct. 

And new Hughes Aviation (Hughes Pastoral Group) (Gympie) Pilatus PC-12//47E NGX VH-8HP flew up to Mackay Airport from Adelaide.

It looks like the new PC-12 was only delivered early last month.

UPDATE!  On Thursday 6 July, VH-8HP departed Mackay Airport for Keeroongooloo.

Finally, also on Tuesday 4 July, Navair Flight Operations Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 bizjet VH-LXZ as "Navair 131" was noted arriving into Mackay Airport from Bankstown, Maitland and Roma Airports.

UPDATE!  On Wednesday 5 July, VH-LXZ "Navair 131" flew down from Mackay Airport to Maitland and then Bankstown.

And Bowenville (near Toowoomba) based Cessna 525 CitationJet CJ1+ bizjet VH-JSZ landed at my local Clermont Aerodrome from Archerfield.  It then departed to Wagga Wagga before returning to Archerfield.

Photo taken by Jonathan Williams  ©