Three Former Virgin Australia ATR 72-500s Fly Back to Australia – Possibly for Hevilift(?) – UPDATED!

Over the last month or so, a further three former Virgin Australia ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft have ferried back into Australia after spending time parked in storage at Nelson in New Zealand.

On Tuesday 4 February, VH-FVU was photographed (above) at Brisbane after flying back from Nelson as VA9948. It then departed to Cairns as the same.

On Saturday 22 February, VH-FVX also arrived into Brisbane and then Cairns also from Nelson as VA9948.

And on Thursday 5 March, VH-FVL also arrived into Brisbane and then Cairns also from Nelson as VA9948.

It is unclear what the fate of the ATRs will be in Cairns, but it has been reported that they will undergo planned heavy maintenance and possibly then be delivered to Hevlift Australia for their charter and passenger operations.

UPDATES! 

Of the three ATR 72-500s mentioned above, VH-FVU eventually rolled out of the hangar in August wearing the titles and livery of Indian regional start-up airline FlyBig. It also wore the Indian Registration marking of VT-FBB. 

VH-FVU then had its Australian Registration marking taped over the Indian Registration marking and at the time of writing this update (December 2020), it doesn’t look like the ATR was taken up by FlyBig and rather it continues to be parked at Cairns – as shown below.

VH-FVU eventually departed Cairns Airport for overseas on Saturday 19 June with it then eventually landing at and entering storage at Bar River Airport in Canada.  It was struck off the Australian Aircraft Register in late June and appears to have been registered in Canada as C-FNAN with North Star Air - a Canadian charter, passenger and cargo airline headquartered in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

VH-FVX has remained parked at Cairns Airport and was photographed in December 2021.

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VH-FVL remained parked at Cairns and was photographed in June 2021 looking slightly worse for wear.

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VH-FVL was then photographed in late September 2021 soon after being rolled out of the hangar in the full titles and livery of Hevilift Australia.  It looked to enter service with Hevilift on closed Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charter flights between Townsville and Osborne Mine and also Cairns and Mount Gordon Copper Mine.

Photos taken by Lloyd Fox and Jonathan Williams  ©️