Newly converted from passenger format by Aerostar in Bacau, Romania, the 11.5 tonne freighter is expected to be deployed on the fly-in fly-out (FIFO) services that Cobham provides principally in Western and Southern Australia, as well as on scheduled overnight airfreight services on the eastern seaboard.

Cobham has been operating BAe 146 and Avro RJ aircraft for the past 19 years BAe 146s to keep exploration and extraction activities running smoothly through remote Australian airfields.

The company operates 13 BAe 146 Series 100, 200 and 300s on behalf of multinational mining companies on FIFO contracts, as well as three BAe 146QTs on behalf of Australia air Express (AaE) which carry 20,000 tonnes of freight and mail a year on overnight services linking Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The QTs’ low noise profile allows AaE to operate scheduled services during curfew hours at noise-sensitive Sydney Airport.

Cobham has also brought forward from 2011 to this year delivery of a second Avro RJ100 passenger aircraft, used to carry mining staff to various exploration and extraction sites, and has signed a lease for a third.