Cobham Aviation Services Australia


Cobham Aviation Services Australia, is a scheduled and charter airline and aviation services provider with its headquarters in Adelaide, South Australia.

History

National Jet Systems 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. At one point during the 1990s the Airline operated Boeing 737-300 aircraft. After Australian Airlines merged with 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 2026. In September 2014, Cobham announced it will require at least one Embraer E190 to use on its regional Barrow Island contract. The aircraft was introduced in early 2015, and withdrawn in February 2018. In June 2018, Cobham donated the forward section of one of their retired BAe 146 aircraft to the South Australian Aviation Museum. The section features the flight deck, forward galley and cabin, and is intended to be turned into an interactive exhibit.
Cobham Aviation Services, and its parent company Cobham plc, were acquired by Advent International in January 2020.
During May 2020, the Qantas Group purchased the National Jet Systems division of Cobham, which operates the Boeing 717 aircraft on behalf of Qantaslink, for an undisclosed sum. National Jet Express, which operates charter flights using the Cobham name, and Surveillance Australia, will remain owned by Advent International.

Operations

Cobham Aviation Services provides aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the Australian Government using highly modified Dash 8 aircraft.
Cobham Aviation Services provides all crew and engineering support and services for QantasLink's Boeing 717 operations in Australia, and operates freight services for StarTrack, along with charter services across its regional network for clients such as Chevron Corporation, Metals X, Karara Mining, Westgold and Gold Fields; resource companies that require Fly In/Fly Out services across remote Australia. Cobham Headquarters is at Adelaide Airport, with hubs at Cairns, Darwin, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Hobart.
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.
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 StarTrack. JetEx operates four BAe 146 freighters on night freight services to and from curfew-restricted Sydney Airport, along with BAe 146 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. Cobham Airline Services operates the QantasLink Boeing 717 aircraft, these flights use the "QF" IATA code and the ICAO code "QJE".
In 2014 Cobham Aviation Services announced a four-year contract providing fly-in fly-out services to mining company Gold Fields, servicing Granny Smith and Darlot. As part of this contract Cobham will operate an 82-seat Avro RJ85 equipped with gravel kit allowing the jet aircraft to land on gravel runways. Consecutively, scheduled services to Kambalda ceased, with flights being transferred to Skippers Aviation.
Cobham Aviation Services introduced the first Embraer E190 to be used in the Australian closed charter sector in 2015. The 104 seat E190 operated in addition to the Avro RJ100 servicing Chevron Corporation's natural gas operations in Western Australia. The contract was said to be worth more than $160 million.
On 24 October 2014, Australian Maritime Safety Authority awarded a new contract 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. 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.
Flights from Adelaide to Moomba and Ballera ceased on 29 February 2016. At that time, it marked the end of Cobham-branded passenger services from Adelaide which had begun 25 years previously. Flights from Adelaide, servicing Port Augusta and Prominent Hill, commenced in August 2017.
Cobham introduced the Q400 onto their closed charter services in August 2019.

Destinations

Cobham's operations can be broken into four separate branches: scheduled services on its own behalf; scheduled operations on behalf of QantasLink and Qantas Freight; and an extensive closed charter operation in support of the mining industry.
;Cobham charter services:
;Domestic scheduled destinations for QantasLink:
;Freight scheduled destinations for Qantas Freight:
As of February 2020 the Cobham fleet consists of the following aircraft:

AircraftIn serviceOn orderNotes
Avro RJ1005
Avro RJ851
BAe 146-2001
BAe 146-3001
BAe 146-300QT4Operated on freight services for Qantas Freight
Challenger 6044Operated under a 12-year contract for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority
Boeing 717-20020Operated on passenger services as part of QantasLink
Embraer 1901
Bombardier Dash-8-Q4003
Total40

Incidents