History Made as the First Ever Garuda Indonesia Touches Down at Rockhampton Airport - Boeing B777-300 PK-GIF - Plus Royal Brunei Boeing B787-8 Dreamliner V8-DLE Also Calls in!

In the early hours of Thursday 7 September, history was made at Rockhampton Airport when the first ever Garuda Indonesia Airlines aircraft touched down into a Central Queensland Airport.

Garuda Indonesia, Boeing B777-3U3(ER) PK-GIF arrived direct from Singapore's Changi Airport as GIA7760. It taxied in to park on the gate six after holding for some time on taxiway Juliet.

The aircraft was somewhat delayed out of Singapore after earlier diverting into Kuala Lumpur while on a flight from Jakarta to Singapore, presumably due to weather and other factors at Singapore.

The Garuda B777-300 had to hold on taxiway Juliet to allow the earlier arrived Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing B787-8 Dreamliner V8-DLE to be serviced after it too had arrived from Singapore's Changi Airport but as RBA4272, having earlier flown across from Brunei as RBA4271.

Both aircraft came to Rockhampton Airport from Singapore in support of the Singapore Armed Forces' Exercise Wallaby 2023 (XWB23), which has kicked off this week in the nearby Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA).  Both aircraft unloaded full flights of personnel and equipment, and eventually were refuelled and both departed back to Singapore's Changi Airport with the Royal Brunei Dreamliner departing as RBA4273, while the Garuda Indonesia Boeing B777-300 departed to Denpasar (Bali) and then Singapore as GIA7761/8421.

Both of these aircraft are expected to return to Rockhampton Airport again from Singapore's Changi Airport in the wee small hours of Friday 8 September, with reports suggesting that the Royal Brunei Dreamliner will also make another visit before dawn on Saturday 9 September.

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Sincere thanks to the local playing spotters for taking the time to capture and sent through these great photos of a couple of historic visitors to Rockhampton Airport.

Photos taken by John Lee and Scott Harris  ©