Virgin Australia ATR 72s Start Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) Charter Flights to Middlemount Aerodrome

Until recently, Virgin Australia ATR 72 turboprops have been operating a twice-weekly Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charter flights into Emerald Airport with the passengers then being bussed to their Middlemount worksites.  Recently I’ve noticed that rather than land at Emerald Airport, these services are now flying directly into Middlemount Aerodrome.

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The flights come up from Brisbane each Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.  The final pair of flights into Emerald Airport look to have been on Tuesday 7 February and Wednesday 8 February with ATR 72-500 VH-FVI and then ATR 72-500 VH-FVX operating the VOZ9107/9108 and VOZ9109/9110 FIFO Charters respectively.

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The first pair of flights into Middlemount Aerodrome occurred the following week on Tuesday 14 February and Wednesday 15 February with ATR 72-500 VH-FVX and ATR 72-500 VH-FVM operating the VOZ9107/9108 and VOZ9109/9110 FIFO charters respectively – note that they used the same flight numbers.

As this post is being written, on Tuesday 21 February, ATR 72-500 VH-FVX is winging its way back to Middlemount Aerodrome once again as VOZ9107 and will return to Brisbane a little later as VOZ9108.

It appears that on Wednesday 22 February, ATR 72-500 VH-FVU will operate into Middlemount on the VOZ9109/9110 FIFO Charter flight from and back to Brisbane.

This now means that there will no longer be any Virgin Australia coloured aircraft due to visit Emerald Airport with Alliance Airlines Fokker F-70 and F-100 jets operating the Regular Passenger Transport (RPT) services into Emerald from and back to Brisbane on behalf of Virgin Australia.

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Of interest, Middlemount Aerodrome is not far from the town centre, situated on the Eastern edge of Middlemount.  The Aerodrome has good facilities with a sealed runway, hangar, and a fairly sizeable apron with markings for two parking bays. There is a small terminal building and a small car-parking area.