Vincent Aviation (New Zealand) Placed into Receivership Too

Following on from the grounding and closure of Vincent Aviation Australia in May, the parent company, Wellington-based Vincent Aviation New Zealand, has now also been placed into receivership.

Vincent SAAB 340B ZK-VAB at Cairns  (Photo taken by the FNQ Skies Blog  ©)

See referring post from May 2014 - http://cqplanespotting.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/vincent-aviation-australia-grounded-and.html

The appointment of receivers for Vincent comes as a result of court proceedings starting last week by the owner of BAe 146-200 ZK-ECO which flew for Vincent Aviation and had been operating largely on Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) and other charter flights in Australia.

The collapse of the parent company has been largely blamed on the collapse in May of Vincent Aviation Australia which was based in Darwin but owned by Vincent Aviation in New Zealand.  The balance sheet from the Australian arm of the company showed its debts outweighed its assets by A$8.8 million.  The Australian business, although a subsidiary, was much larger than the New Zealand operation and the level of cost that had come back was difficult for the smaller New Zealand business to withstand, Vincent said.

Vincent Aviation (Australia) Grounded and Receivers Appointed

The Australian arm of New Zealand-based regional airline Vincent Aviation has entered receivership, with all flights cancelled with immediate effect and the futures of the airline’s 80 staff thrown into question.

A statement from Vincent Aviation stated that on Wednesday 28 May, receivers and managers of Vincent Aviation (Australia) were appointed and immediately took action to cease trading while an urgent assessment of the business and its operations is undertaken.  Thus, all flights have been cancelled effective immediately until further notice.

The statement makes clear any likelihood of Vincent returning to the air, at least in the near term, is slight.

Vincent’s Australian operations are based in Darwin. It employs 80 staff in Australia, operating a fleet of four SAAB 340 and five Beech 1900D turboprops and a single BAe 146-200 on a mix of RPT and Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) and other charter services.

Flight tracking websites recently showed that Vincent Aviation’s New Zealand-registered BAe 146-200, ZK-ECO, which has been noted numerous times in Central Queensland operating FIFO charter flights from Brisbane, flew from Brisbane to Wellington on Wednesday afternoon.  Moreover, unconfirmed reports suggest that the airline’s SAAB 340s and Beech 1900Ds are being ferried to Townsville for storage.

Vincent Aviation was founded by managing director Peter Vincent in 1990, and is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand. The appointment of receivers to the Australian operation does not include or affect the New Zealand operations of Vincent Aviation Limited.

File photos taken by 'AC' and Don Williams  ©

Miles Airport - Fast Growing Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) Hub of the Western Downs - Soon to Have QantasLink Scheduled Services

Miles Airport (ICAO: YMLS / IATA: WLE) is located on the Leichhardt Highway approximately 19 km South of the Leichhardt and Warrego Highway intersection, near the town Miles.  It also sits 14 km North of the Leichhardt Highway and Roma-Condamine Road intersection, near the town of Condamine.  It is operated by the Western Downs Regional Council, which of note also operates the Chinchilla Aerodrome.

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/

The Airport underwent a major expansion in 2013 to meet the needs of the Coal Seam Gas (CSG) industry in the region.  The Airport runway was lengthened to 1590 metres and widened to 30 metres.  It was also strengthened, and is now capable of landing turbro-prop aircraft up to Dash-8-Q400 size, as well as regional jet aircraft including Fokker 70s and BAe 146s.  Vincent Aviation BAe 146-200 ZK-ECO is shown below arriving from Brisbane.

The growth of the CSG industry has seen an large jump in Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charter flights in and out of Miles, with the Airport play host to as many as a dozen arrivals and departures during most weekdays, from aircraft such as smaller King Airs through to larger SAAB 340s, Dash-8s and Fokker 50s from various ports in the South-East corner of Queensland.  Skytrans Airlines Dash-8-300 VH-QQP is shown below.

Miles Airport also has several jet aircraft touching down on FIFO duties - mostly Alliance Airlines Fokker 70 jets which touch down from Brisbane - as VH-JFB is shown below.

CQ Plane Spotting Blog fan Scott W - who also works at Miles Airport - has kindly allowed me to share with you some recent photos he captured of some of the recent FIFO activity that the Miles Airport has seen.

Of note is that QantasLink - who currently operate regular FIFO charters to Miles from Brisbane - will commence the Airports first ever regular passenger transport (RPT) scheduled flights from and to Brisbane in early April.  Dash-8-Q300 VH-SBW is shown below on a recent FIFO flight from Brisbane.

The Western Downs and Surat Basin is certainly a growth area, and all indications suggest that Miles Airport will be at the centre of the growth, providing a FIFO hub and scheduled services for the region.

Thanks to Scott for allowing me to share his images!

Photos taken by Scott Williamson  ©

Alliance Airlines Fokker F-70 VH-JFE at Rockhampton Airport on Wednesday for QantasLink

A nice surprise for Rockhampton plane spotters on Wednesday 5 March with Alliance Airlines Fokker F-70 VH-JFE touching down mid-morning as UTY2638.

VH-JFE at Gladstone Airport in 2013  (File photo by Jamie C  ©)

It would appear that VH-JFE was operating to Rocky on behalf of QantasLink.  It departed back to Brisbane as UTY2639.

This was also the first visit of an Alliance aircraft to Rockhampton for this year!

Meanwhile, we've noticed that Alliance are operating weekly Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charter flights to Emerald Airport every Wednesday.  So far, Fokker F-70 VH-QQX and F-100 VH-XWT have operated the services departing Brisbane to Emerald and back as over the last three weeks as UTY1070/1071.  This flight seems to have taken over from the Vincent Aviation BAe 146-200 ZK-ECO which was operating this charter flight to Emerald and Middlemount for several months.

Alliance also flys to Emerald around every nine days on another FIFO charter run using Fokker F-50s and F-70s on the UTY650/651 from and back to Brisbane.

A Few More Plane Spotting Photos from Emerald Airport This Week

As reported below, I personally popped into Emerald Airport during the afternoon of Wednesday 12 February, and was more than pleasantly surprised to see and photograph the visiting Challenger Management LLC Gulfstream GV-SP (G500) bizjet N760CC.

N760CC departed Emerald on Thursday 13 February for Rockhampton and later Sydney.

Back on Wednesday while I was at Emerald Airport, I captured a few other photos including another visiting bizjet in the familiar form of Mackellar Mining Equipment / Flight Options (Australia) Cessna 560 Citation Ultra VH-MMC, which had arrived from the Sunshine Coast earlier in the day.

Again on Wednesday 12 February, Vincent Aviation BAE 146-200 jet ZK-ECO operated the weekly Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charter flights to Emerald Airport from Brisbane.  ZK-ECO is pictured below from a previous visit to Emerald.

The typical scene around lunchtime each Wednesday was also recently captured by local aviator Ben DV as he departed Emerald in his Bell 206 helicopter.  ZK-ECO and VH-MMC (both visiting at the time again) can be clearly seen, along with the parked Toll Freight / Toll Express Metro.

Photo taken by Ben De Veth  ©

There was of course two other FIFO movements of note into Emerald Airport over the week, with the twice-weekly Regional Express (REX) / Pel Air flights touching down from Brisbane late on Tuesday 11 February and then again early on Wednesday 12 February.  REX SAAB 340B VH-ZLO operated the PFY9282/9283 flight on Wednesday morning, while sister-ship VH-REX popped in late on Tuesday as PFY9286/9287 from and back to Brisbane.

Finally, QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 VH-QOI was photographed departing Emerald on Wednesday 12 February on scheduled service to Brisbane as QLK2415.  VH-QOI still wears its Tamworth Country Music Festival colour scheme.

I spent less than an hour at Emerald Airport on Wednesday, but it sure was one of the better plane spotting trips I've had!

Vincent Aviation BAe 146 ZK-ECO and Beech G58 Baron N581SR Spotted at Emerald Airport Wednesday

I had mixed feelings at Emerald Airport on Wednesday 15 January as I said goodbye to my relatives who returned to Brisbane, but I managed to capture a couple of great aircraft on the ground at the Airport.

It appears that the weekly Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charter flight that was operating from Brisbane into Middlemount by Vincent Aviation BAe 146-200 ZK-ECO - see Blog Post HERE from late last year - now lands at Emerald each week for one reason or another.  I noted that the outbound load of Middlemount mine workers were checking-in with the local Virgin Australia ground-crew, before heading their aircraft for departure back to Brisbane.

Nearby on the South-Western parking apron at Emerald Airport on Wednesday were Toll Freight Aviation / Toll Express Metro III VH-UZW which was resting during the day after arriving earlier in the day as TFX109 from Biloela / Thangool and Brisbane.

And also, Mackellar Mining Equipment / Flight Options (Australia) Cessna 560 Citation Ultra VH-MMC was at Emerald again.  It had arrived earlier in the week on Monday 13 January.

Meanwhile, another overseas registered aircraft on the ground at Emerald Airport on Wednesday 15 January was Hawker Beechcraft G58 Baron N581SR.  It had earlier arrived from Roma, and while we were all waiting for my relative's flight, it was noted departing Emerald on return to Roma.

Also parked on the Emerald General Aviation (GA) apron was Advance Aviation's PA-31 Navajos VH-BCQ and VH-FWJ, alongside Mackay-based Mooney M20J VH-TWV.

And finally, Fugro Spatial Solutions Cessna 404 VH-AZU was spotted being fuelled up ready for departure on another aerial-survey flight out of Emerald.  Most times I visit Emerald Airport, there is a Fugro aircraft visiting.

Certainly a great hour or so at Emerald!

A Few Plane Spotting Photos From Roma Airport – Plus New Terminal Building and Facilities

Brisbane plane spotter Brendan B recently ventured to the town of Roma and managed to squeeze in some plane spotting time at and around Roma Airport.  I'd say Roma is probably in the extreme South of Central Queensland!!

And there has certainly been some major changes to Roma Airport since I was there last – and it is to be expected given that Roma is becoming a major hub of the nearby Surat Basin Coal Seam Gas (CSG) developments.

Roma Airport has a new terminal building and facilities, along with a new Airport aircraft parking apron.  There is also a new user-pays public carpark.

This was the Maranoa Regional Council’s largest project to date. The $14 million upgrade was supported by the State Government and energy sector organisations Santos GLNG and Australia Pacific LNG, with contributions of $4.7 million, $2.5 million and $1 million, respectively.  The project included construction of the new terminal building, a 274 space car park with security lighting, stronger runway and taxiway and improved apron to accommodate larger aircraft.

The new facility commenced operations in April 2012.

Nearby, Brendan also took a couple of photos of the old terminal building – a mere shed by comparison!

And also the nearby Roma Aero Club building.

In terms of aircraft, Roma is a one of regional Queensland’s busiest Airports – particularly on week days with scheduled Regular Passenger Transport (RPT) services from Brisbane to Roma – and on occasion on to Charleville – operated by QantasLink Dash-8 aircraft.

The majority of weekday movements however are confined to fly-in fly-out (FIFO) charter flights from other cities and towns all over Queensland – from larger Skytrans Dash-8s and Vincent Aviation’s SAAB 340 VH-VNU and BAe 146 ZK-ECO which fly in from Brisbane – to smaller King Air and other light turbo-prop aircraft which fly in from Toowoomba and other parts of Queensland.

Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Raytheon B200 King Air VH-FDZ (“FlyDoc 458”) is based at Roma, and it transports medical experts and surgeons to other towns all over regional Queensland.

Roma also receives further King Air and Pilatus PC-12 RFDS movements, and a Careflight Bell 412 Rescue helicopter is also based at Roma – a helicopter rescue service partly funded by the nearby Surat Basin CSG companies.

I last visited Roma in 2003 and I am certainly surprised by the massive changes at Roma Airport – it is certainly on the agenda now for me to head back there!

Thanks to Brendan for taking the time to send through some of his images from his brief time at Roma – they are really great photos – and I sincerely thank Brendan for his continuing support of the CQ Plane Spotting Blog!

Photos taken by Brendan Berry  ©