David Eyre 
VH-NXD Boeing 717-23S (MSN 55062/5031) of QantasLink, named 'Berowra Valley National Park' at Perth Airport - 27 April 2019. Taxying to runway 03 at 3:42pm as flight QF1930 to Broome. Photo © David Eyre.
31 August 2020 © David Eyre (UPDATED 3 January 2021)
Qantas Group acquires National Jet Systems
On 20 May 2020, Cobham Australia and Qantas Group announced that Qantas will bring its Boeing 717 operation ‘in house’ within the Qantas Group, after reaching an agreement with Cobham Aviation Services for Qantas to acquire National Jet Systems.
For the past 15 years, Cobham operated QantasLink’s 20 Boeing 717 aircraft on regional routes across Australia, through National Jet Systems, which holds the Air Operator Certificate and employs 380 staff for operating the B717s. Prior to operating the 717s, National Jet/Cobham operated BAe 146 aircraft for QantasLink, an arrangement that lasted almost 30 years.
Cobham Australia conducted a strategic review in mid-2019, which reassessed the operating model for the 717s. The B717s already operate with QantasLink branding on regional routes, fly in fly out (FIFO) operations and can be used to add more frequencies to capital cities. These routes will likely to recover first, after the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Most of the Cobham employees in the B717 operation are temporarily stood down due reduced fights resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic.
Qantas relocates Perth and Cairns Boeing 717 bases to Melbourne
On 27 August 2020, Qantas Group announced that it would close the Boeing 717 bases in Perth and Cairns, to relocate them to Melbourne. Sadly, this will result in the loss of 100 jobs at the Perth base and 60 at Cairns, but no net loss, as more positions would be created at other bases.
QantasLink said that it had reviewed its network and is relocating aircraft around the country to better match capacity with expected demand as domestic and regional markets recover from COVID and travel restrictions.
Cobham Aviation Services Australia – Airline Services currently operates 20 Boeing 717-200s on behalf of QantasLink.
Cobham currently operates routes from Perth to seven destinations in Western Australia and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory on behalf of Qantas. Eight Boeing 717-200s that were based at Perth will relocate to Brisbane (current as at 3 January 2021):
- VH-NXD: Perth
- VH-NXG: Perth
- VH-NXH: Perth
- VH-NXK: Departed to Brisbane 18 December 2020. To Seletar 27 December 2020 for maintenance
- VH-NXL: Perth
- VH-NXM: Departed to Sydney 3 November 2020.
- VH-NXN: Departed to Brisbane 4 September 2020, stored at Canberra.
- VH-NXO: Departed to Sydney 8 November 2020
Cairns-based 717s will be transferred to establish the new B717 base Melbourne. Qantas plans to base up to six B717-200s at Melbourne.
