Jetgo’s first Embraer ERJ-140LR regional jet has touched down in Brisbane after a marathon week-long ferry flight that featured nine refuelling stops in five countries.
The first of Jetgo’s two 44-seat ERJ-140LRs arrived in Brisbane on Thursday. While the aircraft has been repainted in Jetgo livery, it still features US registration N297SK. It was understood the regional jet will be registered VH-ZJG before it enters service in this country.
Flight schedules from Jetgo showed the ERJ-140’s ferry flight began at Kingman, Arizona, on October 14, when N297SK was taken to Van Nuys, California.
The journey continued the next day, with the Embraer regional jet flying to Ketchikan and then onwards to Anchorage in Alaska.
After a second overnight, the flight crew took the aircraft to Nome, Alaska, then crossed the international dateline before landing at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport on the southern edge of Russia’s east coast.
Leaving Russia on October 17, the aircraft headed to Sapporo, Japan, then flew Sapporo-Okinawa-Palau on October 18.
The aircraft first touched down on Australian soil at Townsville on October 19, before reaching Brisbane the next day.
Currently, Jetgo flies three 37-seat ERJ-135LRs on its regular public transport (RPT) network comprising nine destinations across three states along Australia’s east coast.
The additional aircraft comes as Jetgo prepares to boost its schedule between Albury and Brisbane to six flights a week from November 1, from four weekly services currently.
The privately held regional carrier is also adding a new destination from Melbourne Essendon Airport with four flights a week to Port Macquarie starting on November 7.
Jetgo also teased the arrival of the aircraft on its Facebook page:
