This month’s column closes off 2024. The year has flown by quickly and by the time you are reading this column you will already be well through the first month of the New Year!
Befitting December’s status as a holiday month where South Africans traditionally take time off and companies close their doors for the Christmas and New Year period, we have very few aircraft mentioned in this month’s updates.
These updates are kindly supplied by the SACAA on a monthly basis for which we are very grateful!
Just seven aircraft have been registered this month, while three depart our shores.
Airlink has registered another one of their four Embraer 175s, ZS-YBE (17000343) but these aircraft seem to be taking longer to enter service than expected. They were reportedly to have started commercial services with these jets in the last half of 2024, replacing their elderly Embraer 170s. But by early January they had not yet entered service.
The Pilatus PC-12 family continues to be a popular choice for aircraft owners in southern Africa with yet another new PC-12NGX, ZS-JHG (2433), being registered. This aircraft arrived on delivery to Cape Town on 13 January having ferried from Switzerland via Heraklion, Luxor, Djibouti, Entebbe and Victoria Falls.
The last fixed wing this month is a Scheibe Flugzeugbau SF28A touring motorized glider. This is a type we don’t see too often in this column!
December only saw a single helicopter being registered: an Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter) EC120B is added, taking up the registration ZT-HKL. This 2016 built helicopter was operated by the US Department of Agriculture as N250WH from its delivery till its sale and export to South Africa in the latter part of 2024. It is not known who the new owners are as this information is regrettably not supplied by the SACAA due to the POPI Act restrictions.
Turning our attention to the NTCA types, two Savannah S and a single Vans RV-10 have been registered this month.
Departing our shores are a Beechcraft 1900D, ZS-EAI, that has moved to Algeria, and a Boeing 737-5Y0 ZS-TGY (25183) that has been exported on sale to the DRC. This jet joins the fleet of a recent start-up scheduled carrier, Mont Gabaon Airlines (MG Airlines). It was delivered to Goma from OR Tambo International Airport on 15 December and entered service on 3 January on scheduled services linking Kindu with Kinshasa and Goma. This 32 year old jet has a rich history, having been delivered to China Southern Airlines in February 1992. It then joined Russian carrier Transaero’s fleet in December 2006 where it remained for 10 years. The jet was then transferred to another Russian carrier, VIM Airlines, for three months but was then sold to Africa Charter Airline in South Africa in November 2017. It operated for various carriers while in South Africa including several months with Proflight Zambia in 2023/24.
A single Sling 4 ZU-IZW moves to Australia and closes this month’s updates.
Some other notable South African aircraft developments include four Gazelle helicopters recently exported from South Africa that have been seen active in Libya operating for the Libyan National Army. The four in question, ZU-HGZ, ZR-ROO, ZU-ROU, ZU-RZR, were flown from Lanseria International Airport onboard an Ilyushin IL-76 during December 2024. The end destination was initially mentioned as being the DRC but it has since transpired that they are now in service in Libya and there is even video footage of them taking part in a parade at Smerkit Air Force Base as part of the graduation ceremony of cadets of the Libyan Armed Forces. It is not known if these helicopters have been sold or on lease to Libya.
On the commercial airline front, South African Airways continues to grow its fleet and the next arrival is expected to be the former Qatar Airways A320-232 A7-AHF (4496) that is said to become ZS-SZN. It was expected to be delivered to OR Tambo International Airport in the latter half of January 2025.
Another new jet is a Boeing 737-476F, C5-STC (24446) that arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on 11 January on delivery to Africa Air Charter. It will no doubt soon feature in this column once its registered locally.
In closing the month is a story of the sad but inevitable end of the last airworthy South African Gulfstream IIB, ZS-DJA (156). This 1975 built corporate jet was a long-time resident at Lanseria International Airport from where it departed for the last time on 27 May 2022, heading to her new owners in the USA, now with the registration N24FU. On 22 December 2024 the burnt-out wreckage of the jet was found in a field near Dolores Village in the Toledo District in southern Belize. She met the same fate so many other old Gulfstream IIs have befallen the past few years: being used for extremely profitable drug running flights that invariably end up with their burnt-out wreckage being found in some remote field in Central America.
The Belize Defence Force found the wreckage of N24FU on a makeshift airstrip in a secluded cattle pasture about 15 minutes form the Guatemalan border, an area long associated with illicit cross border activities and drug smugglers. The plane had been deliberately torched to destroy evidence. It was still registered to a company “Best Aircraft Deals LLC” (Breaking Bad?) in Salt Lake City, Utah at the time of this flight. A very sad end to this grand old lady that I was fortunately able to photograph on her departure from South Africa in May 2022.