Cobham Aviation Services Australia

Cobham Aviation Services Australia

IATA NC ICAO NJS Callsign NATIONAL JET
Founded	1989
Hubs	Adelaide Airport
Secondary hubs	Darwin International Airport Cairns International Airport Perth Airport
Fleet size	31[1]
Destinations
Parent company	Cobham plc
Headquarters	Adelaide Airport, South Australia, Australia
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. It provides aviation services including wet leasing, scheduled airline operations, and charter services across Australia. Cobham conducts passenger and freight operations on behalf of clients such as Qantas, Australian air Express and Santos. Cobham provides mining and resource companies Fly In/Fly Out (FIFO) services across remote Australia. Its main base is Adelaide International Airport, with hubs at Cairns International Airport, Darwin International Airport and Perth Airport.^[2] It is a major contractor for QantasLink.^[3]

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.^[4] An additional base, located in Brisbane, is expected to be open by early 2012.

National Jet BAe 146-300 in the new NJS Livery at Perth Airport

National Jet BAe 146-300QT in the colours of Australian air Express

NJS is ultimately owned by Cobham plc. NJS has a sister company; National Jet Express, known as Jetex, which conducts scheduled freight services on behalf of Australian air Express (AaE).^[5] Jetex operates three BAe 146 freighters on night freight services to and from curfew-restricted Sydney Airport. NJS has a subsidiary, Surveillance Australia,^[6] which operates a civilian aerial surveillance program on behalf of the Border Protection Command. Another subsidiary company, Fleet Support, formerly operated Learjets configured as target tugs on behalf of the Royal Australian Navy until the contract was lost to Pel-Air in 1996. In early 2009, National Jet rebranded its name to Cobham (known as Cobham Aviation Services Australia or CAvSA) inline with a global Cobham rebranding initiative by its parent company Cobham plc. The company's legal identity as National Jet Express will still remain however the company would trade and operate its aircraft under the name Cobham.

Destinations

Cobham's operations can be broken into four separate branches; it flies some scheduled services on its own behalf,^[7] but the majority of its scheduled operations are on behalf of QantasLink and AaE. It also has an extensive charter operation in support of the mining industry.^[8][9]

Cobham scheduled services

• Queensland
  • Ballera (Ballera Airport)
  • Brisbane (Brisbane Airport) ^[10]
  • Cairns (Cairns Airport)
• South Australia
  • Adelaide (Adelaide Airport)
  • Moomba (Moomba Airport)
• Western Australia
  • Learmonth (Learmonth Airport)
  • Perth (Perth Airport)
  • Barrow Island
  • Murrin Murrin Joint Venture (Murrin Murrin)
  • Kambalda
  • Barimunya
  • Coondewanna

Domestic scheduled destinations for QantasLink

• Northern Territory
  • Alice Springs (Alice Springs Airport)
  • Darwin (Darwin International Airport)
  • Nhulunbuy (Gove Airport)
  • Uluru (Ayers Rock Airport)
• Queensland
  • Cairns (Cairns International Airport)
• South Australia
  • Adelaide (Adelaide Airport)
• Western Australia
  • Learmonth (Learmonth Airport)
  • Perth (Perth Airport)
  • Karratha (Karratha Airport)
  • Broome (Broome Airport)
  • Port Hedland (Port Hedland Airport)
  • Paraburdoo (Paraburdoo Airport)
  • Kalgoorlie (Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport)
  • Newman (Newman Airport)

Fleet

One of National Jet's British Aerospace BAe 146-200s at Sydney Airport

As of March 2011 the Cobham fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[1][5][11]

• 1 Avro RJ70
• 5 Avro RJ100
• 3 BAe 146-100
• 1 BAe 146-100QT (registered to NJS, operated by Jetex on freight services for AaE)
• 3 BAe 146-200
• 3 BAe 146-300
• 2 BAe 146-300QT (registered to NJS, operated by Jetex on freight services for AaE)
• 11 Boeing 717-200 (operated by NJS for QantasLink)
• 1 de Havilland Canada DHC-8-103
• 1 de Havilland Canada DHC-8-315

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

1. ^ ^{a b} Australian civil aircraft register search, using "National Jet" as the search parameter. Search conducted 30 March 2011.
2. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International: p. 54. 2007-04-10. 
3. ^ About Our Subsidiary Companies: QantasLink (accessed 2008-03-10)
4. ^ "Cobham Gets 5-Year $500m QantasLink Pact Extension"; Fox Business. Retrieved: 18 October 2011.
5. ^ ^{a b} CASA website link to National Jet Express AOC. Retrieved: 6 September 2008^{[dead link]}
6. ^ Surveillance Australia - home page. Retrieved: 16 June 2009.
7. ^ National Jet ticketed schedules page. Retrieved: 6 September 2008. Archived July 19, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
8. ^ "National Jet Seals Expanded Services for Murrin Murrin"; National Jet Media Release. Retrieved: 6 September 2008. Archived July 19, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
9. ^ "National Jet Seals Barrow Island Contract with Bristow Helicopters"; National Jet Media Release. Retrieved: 6 September 2008. Archived July 19, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
10. ^ National Jet Santos Basin Schedules
11. ^ CASA website link to National Jet Systems AOC. Retrieved: 12 September 2008.^{[dead link]}

External links

• Cobham Aviation Services Australia