A Pair of Regional Express (REX) SAAB 340s - VH-ZRH & VH-ZLO - Call into Hamilton Island Airport

An interesting pair of movements into Hamilton Island Airport on Wednesday 6 May with a pair of Regional Express (REX) SAAB 340B turbo-props calling in from two Far North Queensland ports.

File photo taken by Jamie C  ©

VH-ZLO firstly called into Hamo from Cairns as RXA9459.  It was closely followed by VH-ZRH which called in from Townsville as RXA9971.

After around an hour on the ground, both SAABs departed to Cairns with VH-ZLO departing as RXA9460 and VH-ZRH departing as RXA9472.

I'm unsure of the exact reason for the charters, however I'd suggest they may have been tourist related.

Meanwhile, another nice visitor into Hamo over recent days has been Business Aviation Solutions Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 bizjet VH-BLM.  Initally called in from its Gold Coast base on Friday 1 May.

File photo taken by Tony Haynes  ©

On Sunday 3 May, VH-BLM then flew to the Gold Coast and back to Hamo and then back to the Gold Coast.

At the time of writing (Sunday evening), VH-BLM was scheduled to return to Hamilton Island late on Sunday 10 May.

And finally, I note with interest that on Monday 11 May, Shortstop Jet Charter British Aerospace BAe-125-1000B bizjet VH-LMP was due to call into Hamilton Island from Melbourne (Essendon).