FNQ EXTRA - The AN-12 returns
After nearly a decade since the type last graced Cairns, a welcome return of this veteran freighter occurred on Monday 17 October 2016 with the first arrival of UkraineAir Alliance’s UR-CAK. This example is a familiar one as it has visited Australiaseveral times before and has been recently operating out of Brisbaneto Honiara and Nauru. Cairns however has not been fortunate in witnessing many AN-12 movements in the past and in fact only received its first example into the new millennium. This may have been related to Heavylift’s Shorts Belfastfreighter based here, which took on many charters that would have required an AN-12 type freighter. The AN-12 was of course already familiar during the nineties in locations such as Townsville, Darwin, Perth, Port Hedland, Brisbaneand Melbourne when several examples from various operators performed cargo charters. Our records show only three AN-12’s had previously visited Cairns in the period 2001 to 2007. They were Volare’s UR-LTG, Airmark’s UN-11650 and Air Bridge Group’s ER-AXA.
A selection of images of these in Cairnsare posted below.
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| Volare AN12 UR-LTG, Photo by GAFLIKS |
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| Volare AN12 UR-LTG, Photo by GAFLIKS |
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Air Mark UN-11650 AN12 at Cairns.
UN-11650 arr'd on the 3/2/2007 and dep'd 4/2/2007. |
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| ER-AXA AN12 Air Bridge Group at Cairns, Photo by GAFLIKS. |
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| ER-AXA AN12 Air Bridge Group at Cairns, Photo by GAFLIKS. |
Thanks to GAFLIKS for providing this report.
