Nauru Airlines makes Australian aviation history

NAURU AIRLINES BOEING 737-36N VH-PNI (MSN 28555)

The national airline for the tiny Pacific Island nation of Nauru has unveiled its new freighter aircraft at Brisbane Airport and made Australian aviation history.

Brisbane-based Nauru Airlines has marked the beginning of a new chapter as a growing freight carrier with the addition of Australia's first Boeing 737-800F to its fleet.

Although the airline is headquartered on Nauru, the country's flag carrier has been based out of Brisbane Airport for 20 years and is registered under Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority and local aviation standards.

Due to the small population on Nauru, the airline has increasingly pivoted towards charter and freight services to help generate revenue and sustain passenger flights to and from the island.

For Dr Kieren Keke, the Chairman of the Board of Nauru Airlines, the launch of the freighter represents "new beginnings” for the airline, which once had its aircraft impounded when the country defaulted on a loan.

“It’s a new generation aircraft that’s more efficient and it gives us a lot more capacity to offer,” Mr Keke said ahead of an unveiling event at Brisbane Airport hangar on Saturday night.

“Nauru Airlines was established to connect Nauru to Australia and the Pacific but it’s a very challenging thing to maintain commercially on its own. A big part is doing work for other operators and airlines out of Brisbane."

Mr Keke is also a member of the Parliament of Nauru and has previously served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the island nation.

With a population of about 10,000 people, equal to a mid-sized Australian suburb, Nauru has had a dramatic history marked by wildly changing fortunes since achieving independence in 1968.

The country was once one of the world’s wealthiest per capita thanks to phosphorus mining on the island, which briefly enriched Nauru to a point it was nicknamed the "Kuwait of the Pacific" in the 1970s.

The proceeds of phosphate mining were placed in a sovereign wealth fund that the country used to invest in overseas real estate to generate lasting income.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
Airline: Air Nauru
Code: ON/RON
Aircraft: 737-86NSF
Registration: VH-8TG
Serial Number: 33003 LN:1121
First Flew 12/04/2002
Age: 21.3 years
Engines: 2 x CFMI CFM56

AIRCRAFT HISTORY
29/04/2002 G-XLAG Excel Airways lsd GECAS
14/10/2003 G-XLAG Ryanair lsd from Excel Airways
30/03/2004 G-XLAG Excel Airways
20/11/2005 G-XLAG Xtra Airways
01/05/2006 G-XLAG Excel Airways
15/10/2006 G-XLAG XL Airways
14/12/2007 C-FEAG Sunwing Airlines
14/05/2008 G-XLAG XL Airways Ceased operations 12 sept 2008 

(Stored at QLA since 16/09/2008)
06/05/2009 PK-GEJ Garuda lsd from Gecas
26/08/2016 PK-CMU Sriwijaya Air Stored 07/2019 as LZ-MRX
01/08/2023 VH-8TG Nauru Airlines