A rare visitor called into Brisbane

On Tuesday morning, Brisbane Airport welcomed a rare and remarkable visitor, an Atlas Air Boeing 747, affectionately known as the Queen of the Skies. N418MC, with a callsign of Qantas 7580, was scheduled to depart Sydney (SYD/YSSY) at 6.25 am local (20.25 UTC) but got away at 6.55 am, and arrived in Brisbane (BNE/YBBN) 1 minute early at 8.09 am (22.09 UTC). The queen was supposed to be on the ground for two hours before departing for Taipei (TPE/RCTP) and had a departure time of 10.10 am (00.10 UTC), but as freighters go, they don't usually run to schedule. Qantas 7580 finally got airborne at 11.47 am (01.47 UTC).

Now readers around the world might be thinking what's with all the fuss, we see Queens every day. 

Well, Brisbane doesn't get any 747's at all, and the last Queen we got, which again was an Atlas Air, was about 6 months ago, and it was late at night.

Sydney and Melbourne get 747 freighters daily, but we don't, so it was great to see this aircraft on Tuesday.

Following recent developments, a weekly 767-freighter service from Astral Aviation has commenced, which will increase to twice weekly starting in July. The freighter that come into Brisbane started its life with Qantas as VH-OGA.

Additionally, beginning Tuesday, the 17th of June, Brisbane will receive a weekly 747-8 service from Cathay Pacific. This freighter currently operates through Toowoomba's Wellcamp (WTB/YBWW) but will transition permanently to Brisbane from the 17th.

ATLAS AIR BOEING 747-47UF N418MC (MSN 32840)
QF7850 OFF TO TAIPEI (TPE) 22 YEARS

ASTRAL AVIATION BOEING 767-338 5Y-SVR (MSN 24146)
ACP7003 ARRIVING FROM HONG KONG (HKG) 36 YEARS

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-MAX 8 VH-81E (MSN 66644)
VA45 OFF TO DENPASAR (DPS) 11 MONTHS

JETSTAR ABOEING 787-8 VH-VKH (MSN 36233)
JQ9 OFF TO TOKYO (NRT) 10 YEARS

QANTASLINK DASH 8 Q400 VH-LQM (MSN 4450)
QLK451D ARRIVING FROM MORANBAH (MOV) 11 YEARS

AIR NEW ZEALAND AIRBUS A321-271NX ZK-NNB (MSN 8542)
NZ142 OFF TO AUCKLAND (AKL) 6 YEARS

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES AIRBUS A321-271N RP-C9934 (MSN 8484)
PR221 ARRIVING FROM MANILA (MNL) 6 YEARS

SINGAPORE AIRLINES AIRBUS A350-941 9V-SHQ (MSN 439)
SQ256 ARRIVING FROM SINGAPORE (SIN) 4 YEARS

JETSTAR AIRBUS A320-232 VH-VGD (MSN 4527)
JQ834 OFF TO PROSERPINE (PPP) 14 YEARS

LINK AIRWAYS SAAB 340B VH-VEB (MSN 340B-425)
SP34 ARRIVING FROM BUNDABERG (BDB) 27 YEARS

ALLIANCE FOKKER 70 VH-NKU (MSN 11555)
QQ5940 OFF TO GROOTE EYLANDT (GTE) 29 YEARS

FIJI AIRWAYS AIRBUS A330-343 DQ-FJW (MSN 1692)
FJ921 ARRIVING FROM NADI (NAN) 9 YEARS

AIR CANADA BOEING 787-9 C-FVLU (MSN 38360)
AC36 OFF TO VANCOUVER (YVR) 7 YEARS 

ALLIANCE FOKKER 70 VH-NUU (MSN 11532)
QQ8510 OFF TO MORANBAH (MOV) 30 YEARS

QANTAS AIRBUS A330-303 VH-QPC (MSN 564)
QF81 OFF TO TOKYO (NRT) 21 YEARS