Australia’s Pionair has bought WDL Aviation‘s trio of BAe 146-300QTs. WDL had acquired the three freighters from ASL Airlines Spain when that airline ceased operations. At first, the intention was to part them out, but it was later decided to operate them on cargo charters. In the event, only D-AJAM (msn E3150 ex EC-LOF) ever entered service, on 20 November 2018. She only ever operated a handful of charters, however, with her last being on 20 August, from Bremen to Turku. After a test flight on 17 September, she departed Köln for Australia on 19 September, routing via Brindisi, Hurghada, Sharjah, Mumbai, Colombo, Jakarta, Denpasar, Darwin, and Alice Springs before reaching Bankstown on 27 September. The other two 146QTs (msn E3153 ex EC-MCK and msn E3151 ex EC-LMR) are still at Köln; it is not known when they will leave for Australia.
Recent news items on WDL Aviation:
- Pionair buys BAe 146s from WDL (2019-11-12)
- WDL flies Adria’s last services (2019-09-30)
- WDL ends operations for Adria (2019-09-20)
- WDL ends Flybe flights (2019-09-03)
- Adria Airways again leases a WDL BAe 146 (2019-08-29)