British Aerospace Asset Management - Turboprops is enjoying success in the Australian regional market with the Jetstream 41 and the enhanced performance J32.
The company has announced first 1998 purchase in the region of a Jetstream 41, to PearlJet of Brisbane.
Meanwhile, South Australian operator O'Connor Airlines has become the Asia-Pacific region's launch customer for the Jetstream J32 enhanced performance aircraft.
PearlJet will use the 29-seat Jetstream from late March to operate contract flights between Brisbane and the new Phosphate Hill industrial development near Mount Isa in Northern Queensland.
The aircraft will be the second of its type in PearlJet's fleet, the first having been introduced five months ago to operate 'fly-in-fly-out' services based around the operation of a gold and copper mine.
Stephen O'Sullivan, executive vice-president of BAe Asset Management - Turboprops, says the sale of a second aircraft is both a strong endorsement of the type and a positive sign for the year ahead in the Antipodean marketplace.
* The Australian authorities have certificated the Jetstream 41 to operate from narrow runways and gravel strips. Trials were completed in Western Australia with BAe's engineering group at Prestwick, Scotland, both designing a gravel protection kit and amending the flight manuals.
The kit has been designed to prevent damage to flaps, undercarriages and the strobe light. Both of PearlJet's aircraft will be retrofitted with the equipment.
* O'Connor Airlines, will use its two J32s for scheduled flights from Mount Gambier to Adelaide and Melbourne.
Developed by BAe Asset Management, the J32EP programme is designed to increase both the payload and range of the aircraft in 'hot and high' operating conditions.
Its new features include a zero-flap take-off setting and drag-reducing devices.
Source: Flight Daily News
