National Jet Systems Buys 2 BAe 146s

National Jet Systems (NJS), one of Australia’s largest providers of contracted air transport services, has purchased two BAe 146-200s from BAE Systems Regional Aircraft.

Both of the two Series 200 aircraft, (msn E2097 and E2107), have been on lease to NJS for a number of years. Although the carrier had the option to return the aircraft at the end of the current lease period, it has elected to keep both aircraft to continue servicing its valuable ‘fly-in, fly-out’ (FIFO) contracts on behalf of Australian mining companies.

The global recession has inevitably affected the mining sector and companies that have a regular requirement to transport workers to and from the mining fields need to have great flexibility and to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum. NJS has exploited the cost-effective BAe 146 to good advantage in this market.

The BAe 146 has been the aircraft of choice for many of these FIFO contracts and NJS uses most of its fleet of BAe 146s on behalf of resource companies in Western Australia and South Australia.

National Jet Systems is part of Cobham Flight Operations and Services Australia, operating a combined fleet of 37 jet and turboprop aircraft from 36 – 115 seats on long-term contract across Australia’s outback, capital cities and Papua New Guinea. Of this fleet, 13 are BAe 146s across all three variants and one Avro RJ70. Nine of this fleet are leased from Regional Aircraft.

Ten of the BAe 146s are based in Western Australia and form part of a flexible pool used by NJS to cover major mining companies’ air transport requirements. Aircraft may be committed to a single client, or may form part of a flexible capacity arrangement that allows NJS to meet mining company demands for capacity increases and decreases and provide back-up aircraft to maximise service delivery.

The other three BAe 146s are QT freighters that NJS flies on behalf of Australian air Express on the eastern seaboard. The quietness of the BAe 146 makes it the only jet freighter allowed to use Sydney during curfew hours.

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