February has shown steady growth in the number of aircraft registered. Four fixed wing and one helicopter were added while the non-type certified (NTCA) register grew by seven.
There are some late additions included from January in this month’s updates that were not included in the previous month’s updates. The exports and deletions similarly show three entries from January.
It would seem there is not a month that passes where Airlink is not registering at least one new plane! This is testament to the carrier’s strong growth and sound leadership. Another of the carrier’s recently-acquired Embraer 175s has been registered, this one as ZS-YBF. The jet was delivered to Alitalia in 2012, registered EI-RDK and named ‘Parco Nazionale del Gargano’. It operated regional flights for the carrier until being withdrawn from use in April 2020 during the early part of the COVID pandemic.
Cemair too shows steady growth, with a CRJ200 returning to the carrier’s fleet after a lease in Sudan. ZS-CEM was delivered to Comair in August 1999 as N785CA and was operated on behalf of Delta Connect until being withdrawn from use and placed in storage in 2007. The aircraft was acquired by Cemair in 2012 and allocated the registration ZS-CMR. In 2019 the plane was transferred to Blue Bird Aviation Sudan and allocated the registration ST-BBA and is now reinstated on the local register, but as ZS-CEM, as its previous registration has since been allocated to a CRJ900 also operated by Cemair.
The cancelation of the registration of a former SA Express operated CRJ200 regional jet, ZS-NMJ, is a bit of a mystery as the updates give the c/n as 7169 while all other sources claim this jet was c/n 7161. Perhaps this is just some “finger trouble” while entering the data?
This jet was delivered new off the production line to the now defunct regional carrier SA Express in September 1997 and served with the company until 2012 when it was acquired (along with sister ship ZS-NMK) by Lesotho’s Maluti Sky for scheduled services, until the carrier’s demise in July 2017. The plane was then parked up at OR Tambo International Airport from May 2018 and eventually scrapped.
Two popular types imported include a new Cessna Caravan and a new Robinson R44.
Two rather interesting helicopters added to the register include a Sikorsky S-76C+ and a NTC-category registered ‘Huey’.
The Sikorsky S-76C+ ZS-HHX returns to the local registry after a stint on the Brazilian civil aircraft register as PS-CDS, operating for Costa do Sol Táxi Aéreo. This 2003-built helicopter was delivered new to Angola’s SonAir Serviço Aéreo, SA (SonAir Airline Services) where it operated in support of their offshore oil industry before it was sold to Titan Helicopter Group of South Africa in November 2011. It is not clear when the helicopter was exported to Brazil, but it is assumed it returns to once again fly in support of South Africa’s growing offshore gas field industry.
The Huey, ZU-RIR, is a Dornier-manufactured Bell UH-1D (D= Deutschland). Dornier licence built 352 of these helicopters in West Germany between 1967 and 1981 for the German Airforce and Army. The German Armed Forces retired the last UH-1D in June 2001 when the last German Army UH-1D helicopter performed its final flight and flew to Bückeburg Helicopter Museum. This airframe flew with the German Air force as 70+46. It was last noted at Clark Airforce base in the Philippines in 2015 awaiting handover for service with the Philippine Airforce but it’s unclear if it ever did join the air arm’s fleet, but now takes up residence in South Africa.
NTC fixed wing planes additions include one each of the following popular types: a four-seat Jabiru J430, a Savanna Aircraft Africa, Savanna S, a Micro Aviation SA Bat Hawk R, Kit Planes for Africa Bushbaby Explorer and an Orion Cub. Notably there has been no new South African Sling Registered – perhaps a reflection of how the Sling is achieving high value international sales at the expense of the local market.
A very interesting new addition is Dirk Booysen’s full-scale replica Nieuport 28. The Nieuport 28 was a World War I French biplane fighter designed by Gustave Delage. It is hoped that we will see this unique type at some of the airshows and fly-ins in the coming months.
Exports are equally a mixed bag. One of Air-Tec Global’s Let-410UVP-E20s has been registered in Mauritius. The company is domiciled in this island nation so the change in registration may just be an internal transfer.
A DHL-operated Reims-Cessna Caravan II has taken up Mozambican registration, no doubt related to its contract work for the global parcel giant. A former Comair B737-400 ZS-OAR has joined the fleet of Daallo Airlines, a Somali-owned carrier based in Dubai and taken up the new Kenyan registration 5Y-FQC. It was repainted in the carrier’s eye-catching livery at OR Tambo prior to delivery to Kenya on 17 February. A King Air 350i, ZS-LIZ was recently sold to a Kenyan client and has now been transferred to the Kenyan civil register.
On the lighter side, a Cessna T210M has been exported to Zimbabwe and a 182Q to the USA. The final export is a Savanna Aircraft Africa, Savanna S, that has been delivered to a Zimbabwean owner who has placed it on the Zimbabwean register.
[Pat – I have left the reg review below – but have also supplied the spreadsheet. Which format do you prefer?]
NEW REGISTRATIONS
ZS-Registrations
Registration Registration Date Aircraft Manufacturer Aircraft Model Serial Number
ZS-YBF 2024/02/07 Embraer ERJ170-200 STD 17000345
ZS-CEM 2024/02/06 Bombardier Inc. CL-600-2B19 7326
ZS-HHX 2024/02/13 Sikorsky Aircraft S-76C 760543
ZS-BCJ 2024/02/13 Textron Aviation Inc. 208B 20800703
ZT-Registrations
Registration Registration Date Aircraft Manufacturer Aircraft Model Serial Number
ZT-RHK 2024/02/13 Robinson Helicopter Company R44 14700
ZU-Registrations
Registration Registration Date Aircraft Manufacturer Aircraft Model Serial Number
ZU-IZV 2024/01/24 Savannah Aircraft Africa Savannah S 22-10-54-0907
ZU-IZY 2024/01/31 Micro Aviation SA Bat Hawk R 0117
ZU-RIR 2024/02/09 Dornier UH-1D 8106
ZU-IZZ 2024/02/06 Jabiru J430 1012
ZU-COB 2024/02/13 Avroy Shlain Orion Cub 22-02
ZU-MXK 2024/02/15 Kit Planes for Africa Bushbaby Explorer 022-D-23 EXUL
ZU-IZX 2024/02/22 Dirk Johan Booysen Nieuport 28 Full Scale 061119
EXPORTED
ZS-Registrations
Registration De-Registration Date Aircraft Manufacturer Aircraft Model Serial Number Country of Export
ZS-ATJ 2024/01/30 Aircraft Industries A.S L410 UVP-E20 062636 Mauritius
ZS-DHL 2024/01/31 Reims Aviation S.A F406 F406-0062 Mozambique
ZS-OAR 2024/02/09 Boeing 737-476 28152 Kenya
ZS-MAS 2024/02/06 Cessna Aircraft Company T210M 210-62385 Zimbabwe
ZS-LIZ 2024/02/02 Beechcraft Corporation B300 FL-1012 Kenya
ZS-KTF 2024/02/05 Piper Aircraft Corporation PA-32R-301 32R-8013136 United Kingdom
ZS-EBP 2024/02/09 Piper Aircraft Corporation PA-28-235 28-10537 Madagascar
ZS-SVA 2024/02/16 Cessna Aircraft Company 182Q 18267402 USA
ZS-NMJ 2024/02/27 Bombardier Inc. CL-600-2B19 7169 Scrapped
ZU-Registrations
Registration De-Registration Date Aircraft Manufacturer Aircraft Model Serial Number Country of Export
ZU-PLM 2024/01/30 Savannah Aircraft Africa Savannah S 21-09-54-0811 Zimbabwe