Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Canadair CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 Bizjet A37-001 Departs Australia For Good

It appears that on Saturday 22 June, the first of the three Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Canadair CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 bizjets A37-001 departed Australia for good following almost 17 years of service with RAAF's VIP 34 Squadron.

A37-001 parked at Rockhampton Airport in May  (File photo)

A37-001 - as "Ausy 316" - was noted departing Canberra (RAAF Base Fairbairn) for Apia, Samoa, before it then continued to Honolulu, Hawaii and Burbank, California in the United States.

A37-001 (CN: 5521) was delivered to the RAAF in July 2002.  It made numerous visits to Central Queensland with its last believed to be on Wednesday 8 May when it called into Rockhampton Airport during the recent Federal Election campaign - as pictured below.

A37-001 departs Rockhampton Airport for Adelaide on its final visit to CQ  (File photo)

The RAAF's VIP 34 Squadron is replacing the three current Challenger 604 bizjets with three sleek new leased Dassault Falcon 7X bizjets.

A56-001 arrived in Canberra on delivery from overseas in mid-April and has completed a couple of crew familiarisation into CQ including Bundaberg Airport where it is pictured above.  The second Falcon 7X A56-002 was delivered to the RAAF at Canberra in early June.

Photos taken by ‘IAD’, Scott Harris and Isaac S  ©️