Cobham Aviation Services Australia
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Founded | 1989 | ||||||
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Hubs | Adelaide Airport | ||||||
Secondary hubs | Darwin International Airport Cairns International Airport Perth Airport Brisbane Airport |
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Subsidiaries | Surveillance Australia, Asia Pacific Airlines (PNG) | ||||||
Fleet size | 35 | ||||||
Parent company | Cobham plc | ||||||
Headquarters | Adelaide Airport, South Australia, Australia | ||||||
Key people | Peter Nottage, CEO[1] | ||||||
Website | www.cobham.com.au |
Cobham Aviation Services Australia (formerly National Jet Systems), is a scheduled and charter airline with its Headquarters based in Adelaide, Australia.
Contents
History
National Jet Systems (NJS) was established in 1989 and started operations on 1 July 1990. It soon commenced scheduled operations on behalf of Australian Airlines, mainly to tourist destinations in northern Australia, operating a fleet of BAe 146 aircraft under the Airlink brand. After Australian Airlines was taken over by Qantas it continued these operations, and in 2005 commenced operating Boeing 717 aircraft, the operation being rebranded as QantasLink at the same time. The services on behalf of QantasLink are contracted until 2018.[2] In September 2014, Cobham announced it will require at least one Embraer E190 to use on its regional Barrow Island contract.[3]
Operations
Cobham Aviation Services provides all crew and engineering support and services for QantasLink's Jet operations in Australia,[4] and operates freight services for Australian air Express, along with charter services across its regional network for clients such as Santos, BHP Billiton and Chevron; resource companies that require Fly In/Fly Out (FIFO) services across remote Australia. Cobham Headquarters is based in Adelaide International Airport, with hubs at Cairns International Airport, Darwin International Airport, Perth Airport, Brisbane Airport, Sydney Kingsford-Smith, Canberra Airport and Hobart Airport.
Cobham Aviation Services has developed "turnkey" transportation systems, including airport management and reservations services, for major Australian infrastructure projects such as Santos's Cooper Basin gas fields at Moomba and Ballera in the heart of Australia, Chevron's Barrow Island operations into a Class "A" nature reserve with strict quarantine requirements, along with operations for Ok-Tedi gold and copper mine in Papua New Guinea.[5]
Cobham Regional Services, also known as National Jet Express, or JetEx, conducts scheduled closed charter flights on its "regional network" and freight services on behalf of Australian air Express (AaE).[6] JetEx operates three BAe 146 freighters on night freight services to and from curfew-restricted Sydney Airport, along with Bae146 and RJ100 aircraft in Perth and Adelaide on scheduled closed charter flights for bluechip minings clients. Surveillance Australia, or Special Missions business unit operates a civilian aerial surveillance program on behalf of the Border Protection Command.[7] Cobham Airline Services operates the QantasLink Boeing 717 aircraft, these flights use the "QF" IATA code and the ICAO code "QJE" (call sign 'Q-Jet').
In 2014 Cobham Aviation Services announced a four-year contract providing fly-in fly-out services to Gold Fields, servicing Granny Smith and Darlot. As part of this new contract Cobham will operate an 82-seat Avro RJ85 equipped with gravel kit allowing the jet aircraft to land on gravel runways.[8] Consecutively, scheduled services to Kambalda were ended, with flights being transferred to Skippers Aviation.
Cobham Aviation Services will introduce the first Embraer E190 to be used in the Australian closed charter sector in 2015. The 104 seat E190 will operate in addition to the Avro RJ100 servicing Chevron's natural gas operations in Western Australia. The contract extension with Chevron Australia is said to be worth more than $160 million AUD.[9]
On 24 October 2014, AMSA awarded a new contract[10] to Cobham SAR Services Pty Ltd to commence in August 2016 for a minimum of twelve years valued at $640 million AUD with three one-year contract extension options which would take the full value to over $700 million AUD.[11] They will replace AeroRescue Pty Ltd who have been operating Dornier 328P aircraft. Cobham SAR Services Pty Ltd will operate four Bombardier CL-604 aircraft specially modified and equipped for the contract, based at Cairns, Melbourne, and Perth.[12]
Destinations
Cobham's operations can be broken into four separate branches; it flies scheduled services on its own behalf.[13] Scheduled operations on behalf of QantasLink and AaE. It also has an extensive closed charter operation in support of the mining industry.[14][15]
- Cobham charter services
- Domestic scheduled destinations for QantasLink
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Adelaide (Adelaide Airport)
- Victoria
- Tasmania
- Western Australia
- Broome (Broome Airport)
- Kalgoorlie (Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport)
- Karratha (Karratha Airport)
- Learmonth (Learmonth Airport) - Now operated by Qantas subsidiary Network Aviation as of May 2014. This is in place of the Q400 aircraft previously operated by ((Sunstate Airlines)), although Cobham flights are shown in schedule from time to time.
- Newman (Newman Airport) -
- Paraburdoo (Paraburdoo Airport)
- Perth (Perth Airport)
- Port Hedland (Port Hedland Airport)
- Freight scheduled destinations for Australian air Express
- Queensland
- Brisbane (Brisbane Airport)
- Victoria
- Melbourne (Melbourne Airport)
- Melbourne (Essendon Airport)
- New South Wales
- Sydney (Sydney Airport)
- South Australia
- Adelaide (Adelaide Airport)
Fleet
As of March 2014 the Cobham fleet consists of the following aircraft:[16]
Aircraft | Total | Notes |
---|---|---|
Avro RJ100 | 5 | |
Avro RJ85 | 2 | |
BAe 146-100 | 2 | |
BAe 146-100QT | 1 | operated on freight services for Australian air Express |
BAe 146-200 | 1 | |
BAe 146-300 | 2 | |
BAe 146-300QT | 3 | operated on freight services for Australian air Express |
Challenger 604 | 1 (4) | operated under a 12-year contract for the the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Based in Adelaide to refit before re-locating to Perth, Melbourne and Cairns to conduct SAR operations.[17] |
Embraer E190 | 1 [18] | |
Boeing 717-200 | 20 | Operated on passenger services as part of QantasLink |
Total | 35 | (+1 Order) |
Incidents
- 29 April 2014: The no. 2 engine of a Cobham Aviation Avro RJ100, registration VH-NJI, failed shortly after take-off from Perth, Western Australia. Witnesses described a trail of sparks leaving the back of the No. 2 (left-hand, inner) engine. The aircraft made a successful landing with no injuries.[19][20]
See also
- Sir Alan Cobham, who flew from Britain to Australia in August 1926. 60,000 were at Essendon Airport, Melbourne to welcome him.
References
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Jet Systems. |
- ↑ Cobham finalises $50m Santos contract extension - Australian Aviation 31 May 2012
- ↑ "Cobham Gets 5-Year $500m QantasLink Pact Extension"; Fox Business. Retrieved: 18 October 2011.
- ↑ "Cobham introduces Embraer E190 for contract extension"; Aviation Business. Retrieved: 21 September 2014.
- ↑ About Our Subsidiary Companies: QantasLink (accessed 2008-03-10)
- ↑ Oil, Mining and Gas
- ↑ CASA website link to National Jet Express AOC. Retrieved: 6 September 2008[dead link]
- ↑ Surveillance Australia - home page. Retrieved: 16 June 2009.
- ↑ http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/cobham-wins-four-year-gold-fields-fifo-contract
- ↑ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/cobham-e190-steps-on-the-gas/story-e6frg95x-1227048051282
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://australianaviation.com.au/2014/10/cobham-wins-640m-amsa-search-and-rescue-contract/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.cobham.com.au/schedules.htm
- ↑ "National Jet Seals Expanded Services for Murrin Murrin"; National Jet Media Release. Retrieved: 6 September 2008. Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "National Jet Seals Barrow Island Contract with Bristow Helicopters"; National Jet Media Release. Retrieved: 6 September 2008. Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Australian civil aircraft register search, using "National Jet" as the search parameter. Search conducted 12 March 2014
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://avherald.com/h?article=4739fcc8&opt=0 |website=AV Herald
- Pages with reference errors
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- Use Australian English from April 2012
- All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
- Pages with broken file links
- Commons category link is locally defined
- Airlines established in 1989
- Airlines of Australia
- Articles with dead external links from October 2010