Virgin Australia Embraer E-190 Jet VH-ZPC Caps off a Busy Couple of Days at Gladstone Airport

It's been a very busy couple of days at Gladstone Airport this week with at least 50 aircraft flying in and out of the industrial city since Monday - on a mix of scheduled services, Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charters and re-positioning flights.

The majority of these aircraft have been QantasLink aircraft - both Dash-8-Q300 and Dash-8-Q400 turboprops, along with Cobham Aviation-operated Boeing B717-200 jets.  There has also been around 17 Virgin Australia services from and back to Brisbane, mostly operated by Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) ATR 72 turboprops.

File photo taken by Michael Fleetwood  ©

However, on Wednesday 13 August, Virgin operated an Embraer E-190 jet into Gladstone on a scheduled service as VOZ1717 from Brisbane.  It later departed back to the capital as VOZ1720.

It was certainly a nice surprise - and a very welcome visitor!