Australia now has a B757 freighter on its aircraft registry and, while it’s the fourth to carry VH tags, it’s the first to actually operate here. VH-TCA, a B757-236PCF model, came into operation under this registration in early July following pre-certification work at Air NZ’s engineering base in Auckland.
It was previously registered as G-CSVS, flying for Tasman Cargo Airlines – as it continues to do – in full DHL livery.
It replaced another British-registered 757 on the DHL trans-Tasman runs, that one having been diverted into Australasian services when Tasman Cargo Airlines’ long-serving 727 freighter fell foul of Anthony Albanese’s noise and pollution restrictions at Sydney and other key airports.
The 727 sat on the tarmac at Auckland International Airport for some time before being sold to K-Mile Air. It is now based at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok.
TCA - whose registration letters echo the operator name - was brand new in freighter mode when it arrived in this part of the world. It had undergone P2F conversion by Flightstar Aircraft Services in Jacksonville, Florida, after operating in passenger configuration since 1992. It initially flew for Airtours International and then had a long stint with Greenlandair/Air Greenland.
Its three 757 predecessors on the Australian registry were all owned initially by Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) and its subsidiary, Nordstress Australia.
VH-NOF originally was a passenger variant, but later took the P2F path and now flies as a freighter with Icelandair. VH-BRN and AWE were bought new as freighters by AWAS, with BRN still in service with Yakutia Cargo, carrying a Bermuda registration.
AWE came to a tragic end in the well-known accident in German airspace near the German-Swiss border when a breakdown in European air traffic control procedures led to its mid-air collision with a Bashkirian Airlines Tu-154 in July 2002. There were 71 fatalities, many of them children. AWE was at the time registered in Bahrain as A9C-DHL.
757 freighter first with Australian ops
AirCargo Archive Stories #225
Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Australia now has a B757 freighter on its aircraft registry and, while it’s the fourth to carry VH tags, it’s the first to actually operate here. VH-TCA, a B757-236PCF model, came into operation under this registration in early July following pre-certification work at Air NZ’s engineering base in Auckland.
It was previously registered as G-CSVS, flying for Tasman Cargo Airlines – as it continues to do – in full DHL livery.
It replaced another British-registered 757 on the DHL trans-Tasman runs, that one having been diverted into Australasian services when Tasman Cargo Airlines’ long-serving 727 freighter fell foul of Anthony Albanese’s noise and pollution restrictions at Sydney and other key airports.
The 727 sat on the tarmac at Auckland International Airport for some time before being sold to K-Mile Air. It is now based at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok.
TCA - whose registration letters echo the operator name - was brand new in freighter mode when it arrived in this part of the world. It had undergone P2F conversion by Flightstar Aircraft Services in Jacksonville, Florida, after operating in passenger configuration since 1992. It initially flew for Airtours International and then had a long stint with Greenlandair/Air Greenland.
Its three 757 predecessors on the Australian registry were all owned initially by Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) and its subsidiary, Nordstress Australia.
VH-NOF originally was a passenger variant, but later took the P2F path and now flies as a freighter with Icelandair. VH-BRN and AWE were bought new as freighters by AWAS, with BRN still in service with Yakutia Cargo, carrying a Bermuda registration.
AWE came to a tragic end in the well-known accident in German airspace near the German-Swiss border when a breakdown in European air traffic control procedures led to its mid-air collision with a Bashkirian Airlines Tu-154 in July 2002. There were 71 fatalities, many of them children. AWE was at the time registered in Bahrain as A9C-DHL.
