Link Airways (Corporate Air / Vee H Aviation) SAAB 340B+ VH-VEZ (ex N450XJ, N350AG) First Visit to CQ at Theodore Aerodrome - Plus More!

On Thursday 4 September, a surprise arrival into the region, and making what we believe is its first ever visit, was Link Airways (Corporate Air / Vee H Aviation) SAAB 340B+ turboprop VH-VEZ, which flew up from Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast to land at Theodore Aerodrome on a Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) closed charter flight.

File photo

It later returned to the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane.

Since the SAAB was delivered to Link Airways, it has primarily been operating on regional Regular Passenger Transport (RPT) routes in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.  The airline also operates some flights on behalf of Virgin Australia Airlines.

Of interest, VH-VEZ previously operated in the USA with Mesaba Airlines for Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines as N450XJ, but most recently, it flew with Florida-based Silver Airways as N350AG.

It was flown into Australia with that American registration marking in November 2022 and was re-registered and delivered to Link Airways (Corporate Air / Vee H Aviation) as VH-VEZ. It entered service on Monday 20 February 2023 on behalf of Virgin Australia on the link between Canberra and Sydney - which it has operated quite a bit over the years!

VH-VEZ was one of three four most recently acquired SAAB 340s, and as far as we are aware,  two of the other four which were acquired about this time - VH-VEA and VH-VEQ - are still yet to make an appearance in Central Queensland.  VH-VER has been into CQ about two years ago.

Meanwhile, also on Thursday 4 September, Southern Air Beech 1900 VH-VSO arrived into Rockhampton Airport from Cairns and Townsville before it then departed to Brisbane.  It later returned to Cairns. 

And Torres Strait Air (Collville Aviation Services) Britten Norman (Bembridge) BN-2A-27 Islander VH-89M landed at Emerald Airport from the South and then departed to Cairns. 

Finally, also on Thursday 4 September, SG Aviation Australia / Business Aviation Solutions Gulfstream G-VI (G650ER) bizjet VH-SGA looked to visit Hamilton Island Airport once again from Melbourne (Essendon).

Plus on Wednesday 3 September, Southern Air Services Cessna 525 CitationJet CJ1 bizjet VH-APJ landed at Blackall Airport from Dalby.

Henadeck (New South Wales) Cessna 525 Citation CJ1 bizjet VH-YNE arrived into Hamilton Island Airport from Bankstown.

And the locally-based Embraer EMB-550 Legacy 500 bizjet N142GZ was back in the air departing Mackay Airport for Brisbane.

UPDATE!  On Tuesday 9 September, N142GZ returned to Mackay Airport from Brisbane.

Photos taken by Tony Haynes, Brian Kenney, Chris Hall and Brian Gibbens  ©