Cobham Aviation Services Australia (formerly National Jet Systems), is a scheduled and charter airline and aviation services provider with its headquarters in Adelaide, South Australia.
National Jet Systems (NJS) was established in 1989 and started operations on 1 July 1990. It soon commenced scheduled operations on behalf of Australian Airlines, mainly to tourist destinations in northern Australia, operating a fleet of BAe 146 aircraft under Australian’s Airlink brand. After Australian Airlines merged with Qantas, these operations continued using QantasLink branding. The Boeing 717 entered the fleet in 2005, with the Qantas-branded BAe 146s being transferred to National Jet’s charter division.
National Jet Express (NJE) was established to operate charter and scheduled services using National Jet’s own branding, using BAe 146, BAe Jetstream and Dash 8 aircraft, and freighter services on behalf of Australian air Express using the BAe 146 and Boeing 727. For a short time in the 1990s, NJE operated a Boeing 737-300. NJE’s scheduled services included Australian Indian Ocean Territories and Kambalda, which ended in 2010 and 2012 respectively. National Jet was rebranded to Cobham Aviation Services Australia in 2009, to align it with parent company Cobham plc. In 2014, Cobham announced it would acquire an Embraer E190 to use on its closed charter services to Barrow Island. The first aircraft was introduced in 2015, and withdrawn in 2018, with a second being sourced in May 2019. In June 2018, Cobham donated the forward section of one of their retired BAe 146 aircraft to the South Australian Aviation Museum. The section features the flight deck, forward galley and cabin, and is intended to be turned into an interactive exhibit. Cobham introduced the Q400 into the charter fleet in August 2019. Cobham continues to operate its fleet of BAe 146 freighters, now using Qantas Freight branding.
Cobham Aviation Services, and its parent company Cobham plc, were acquired by Advent International in January 2020. In May 2020, the Qantas Group purchased the National Jet Systems division, operating the Boeing 717 on behalf of Qantas, for an undisclosed sum. The transition to Qantas ownership was completed in July 2020. National Jet Express, operating charter and freight services, remains owned by Advent International.
Cobham Aviation Services provides aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the Australian Government using highly modified Dash 8 aircraft.
Cobham Aviation Services operates freight services for Qantas Freight, along with charter services across its regional network for clients such as Chevron Corporation, Metals X, Karara Mining, Westgold and Gold Fields; resource companies that require Fly In/Fly Out (FIFO) services across remote Australia. Cobham Headquarters is at Adelaide Airport, with hubs at Cairns, Darwin, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Hobart.
Cobham Aviation Services has developed "turnkey" transportation systems, including airport management and reservations services, for major Australian infrastructure projects such as Santos's Cooper Basin gas fields at Moomba and Ballera in the heart of Australia, Chevron's Barrow Island operations into a Class "A" nature reserve with strict quarantine requirements, along with operations for Ok Tedi gold and copper mine in Papua New Guinea.
Cobham Regional Services, also known as National Jet Express, or JetEx, conducts scheduled closed charter flights on its regional network and freight services on behalf of Qantas Freight. JetEx operates four BAe 146 freighters on night freight services to and from curfew-restricted Sydney Airport, along with Avro RJ, Embraer E190 and Q400 aircraft in Perth and Adelaide on scheduled closed charter flights for bluechip minings clients. Surveillance Australia, or Special Missions business unit operates a civilian aerial surveillance program on behalf of the Border Protection Command. Cobham Airline Services operated the QantasLink Boeing 717 aircraft under the National Jet Systems subsidiary, these flights used the "QF" IATA code and the ICAO code "QJE" (call sign 'Q-Jet').
In 2014 Cobham Aviation Services announced a four-year contract providing fly-in fly-out services to mining company Gold Fields, servicing Granny Smith and Darlot. As part of this contract Cobham will operate an 82-seat Avro RJ85 equipped with gravel kit allowing the jet aircraft to land on gravel runways. Consecutively, scheduled services to Kambalda ceased, with flights being transferred to Skippers Aviation.
Cobham Aviation Services introduced the first Embraer E190 to be used in the Australian closed charter sector in 2015. The 104 seat E190 operated in addition to the Avro RJ100 servicing Chevron Corporation's natural gas operations in Western Australia. The contract was said to be worth more than $160 million.
On 24 October 2014, Australian Maritime Safety Authority awarded a new contract to Cobham SAR Services Pty Ltd to commence in August 2016 for a minimum of twelve years valued at $640 million AUD with three one-year contract extension options which would take the full value to over $700 million AUD. They will replace AeroRescue Pty Ltd who have been operating Dornier 328P aircraft. Cobham SAR Services Pty Ltd will operate four Bombardier CL-604 aircraft specially modified and equipped for the contract, based at Cairns, Melbourne, and Perth.
Flights from Adelaide to Moomba and Ballera ceased on 29 February 2016. At that time, it marked the end of Cobham-branded passenger services from Adelaide which had begun 25 years previously. Flights from Adelaide, servicing Port Augusta and Prominent Hill, commenced in August 2017.
Cobham introduced the Q400 onto their closed charter services in August 2019. Boeing 717 services on behalf of QantasLink ended in July 2020, after which that division became a fully owned subsidiary of Qantas. Cobham consolidated its BAe 146 operations to South Australia after the last passenger flight into Perth arrived on 4 November 2021.
Cobham's operations can be broken into two separate branches: scheduled operations on behalf of Qantas Freight, and an extensive closed charter operation in support of the mining industry.
As of December 2021 the Cobham fleet consists of the following aircraft:
Media related to National Jet Systems at Wikimedia Commons
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