Pacific Air Express Australia Boeing B757-200F Freighter VH-PQA Departs Australia For Good

Really sad to read that on Wednesday 20 October, Pacific Air Express Australia Boeing B757-225(PCF) Freighter VH-PQA departed Brisbane Airport on what appears to be a ferry flight to the USA for parting out and scrapping.

VH-PQA was originally delivered to Pacific Air Express at Brisbane in late November 2018 and operated several training and proving flights to both Rockhampton (pictured below) and Mackay Airports in months following.  Its final flight into Central Queensland was again to Rockhampton Airport in late November 2019.

VH-PQA completed several freight flights from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Islands and back.  Its final flight under the Pacific Air Express company banner was in March 2020.  

VH-PQA was wet leased by and operated for some time for Qantas Freight, flying mostly between Melbourne and Perth.  Its final flight was at the end of April 2021 when the B757 was ferried back to Brisbane and then eventually advertised for sale.  Pacific Air Express reportedly entered administration in April.

Of interest, the Boeing B757-225(PCF) Freighter (MSN 22611) initially landed at Christchurch in New Zealand in March this year as N315ST.  It was registered to 'Aerolease' and flew in from Goodyear in Arizona via Phoenix, Honolulu and Apia.

This airframe has had a somewhat varied life, starting out in 1985 with Eastern Air Lines in the USA with whom it operated until 1991 as N522EA.  Following this, it spent time with a number of operators before being converted to a freighter in May 2007.  After flying again with a number of operators, at the conclusion of its time with DHL, it had been in storage at Goodyear since mid-2017.

More information can be found at:  http://www.b757.info/22611/

Photos and videos taken by Lachie Fuge and Russell Prothero  ©