National Jet Systems Extends BAe 146-200 Lease With BAE Systems Regional Aircraf

National Jet Systems (NJS), Australia’s largest provider of contracted air transport services, has signed a long-term lease extension with BAE Systems Regional Aircraft for one of its BAe 146-200s (E2170).

The lease extension is on the back of a contract extension won by NJS from Santos, one of Australia’s best known oil and gas companies, to provide air transport to the company’s Cooper Basin mining and exploration site. Under the terms of the new contract the 81-seat BAe 146-200 will replace the smaller 72-seat BAe 146-100 that was previously operated.

NJS operates nine flights each week between Adelaide and the Santos sites of Moomba and Ballera in the Cooper Basin, some 770km and 950km north of Adelaide respectively.
The BAe 146 is the aircraft of choice for many of these “fly in, fly out” (FIFO) personnel transport services and NJS uses the aircraft for 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 48 aircraft throughout Australasia and employing more than 1100 people. Of this fleet, 14 are BAe 146s across all three variants and one Avro RJ70. Eleven 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 supreme quietness of the BAe 146 makes it the only jet freighter allowed to use Sydney during curfew hours.