Cobham Aviation Services will fly Arvo RJ85 jets to West Australian mining sites as part of a new four-year fly-in, fly-out contract with Gold Fields Australia.
The contract involves flying the 82-seat jet aircraft equipped with what Cobham says is gravel kit capability to Gold Fields Australia’s mines at Granny Smith and Darlot, both situated about 720km north-east of Perth.
Cobham said the aircraft jets would be capable of operating to gravel runways, making the company the only aviation services provider in Australia using jet aircraft to gravel runways.
Cobham general manager of regional services Ryan Both said the jet aircraft allowed mining companies to move more people faster using fewer services.
Gold Fields Australia executive vice president Richard Weston said the use of jet aircraft to its mining sites – four return services a week to Granny Smith and two to Darlot – would “increase efficiencies as it enables us to consolidate our FIFO schedule and still travel direct to our sites with gravel runways”.
