Adria launches second destination from Priština

Slovenia’s Adria Airways will launch a second route operating outside of Slovenia, from Munich in Germany to Priština. The service will launch at the start of the 2010/11 winter season, on October 31. The flights will operate daily using one of the airline’s new Airbus A319 aircraft. Priština is already served fourteen times per week from Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana, with much success.

This will be Adria’s second route to be operated outside of Slovenia with the first being the Vienna – Frankfurt service. Adria has gained rights to operate the flights from Germany thanks to Lufthansa and its membership in the Star Alliance network. Adria has added several new destinations to its network in the past several months including Banja Luka and Marseille.

All flight details for the Munich – Priština service can be found in the new route launches section on the right hand side.

Three of my learned friends have died recently.

Steve Morrissey. "Chook". ANZ Boeing 777 pilot, ex RNZAF No 3 Squadron and "Wiggies" gliding friend from Wigram and Omarama, died whilst hiking during a lay over in Hong Kong.

Ian Ritchie. Ex 23 Squadron RAF WW11 Mosquito pilot. Founder of South Otago Aerial Top Dressing Company and then Ritchies Air Service and later with CAA. Has died in Motueka.
Ian showed me the basics of trying to master the Cessna 180.

Gwenyth Kingsbury of NZ Meteorological Service. Maybe not well know by you pilots but well known and respected behind the scenes for managing the Met Service contract with CAA and maintaining weather reporting standards throughout the country.

You will all be missed.

A follow on from the earlier blog on this Aero Commander as seen at
http://design-plane.blogspot.com/2010/08/delta-charlie-fox.html

I have two more photographs sent in by Steve Lowe.
Steve runs a fab blog on NZ Third Level Airlines etc and has mentioned ZK-DCF on http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2010/02/bell-air-remembered.html

Above is ZK-DCF in Bell Air scheme as seen at Whakatane in August of 1981.

Photo by S Lowe.

Below is ZK-DCF in its James Air scheme as seen at Nelson in January 1983.

Photo by Clinton Read from the S Lowe collection.

Following on from the earlier blog on the Horizon at http://design-plane.blogspot.com/2010/06/sud-aviation-gardan-gy-80-horizon.html  I have received the following email from Allan Churn of Perth in WA who is now the owner of ex ZK-CLK.
I have added my own comments in red.

****************************************************
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:04:48 +0800

Subject: NZ-CLK Horizon
To: bluebus@windowslive.com
Thanks heaps for that info...I really appreciate it. I had no idea my Horizon was once named "Cherie"!
Also interesting to hear it had nosed over...didnt know about that!
I am a member of APAG (GY80 owners Assoc, in France), and they (eagle eyed) noticed in one of your fotos ("The second photo shows it at Christchurch in August of 1990") ....another GY80 in the distant background. It appears to be all white. I havent seen a foto of an all white GY80 in NZ. Perhaps it was undergoing repaint. (I suspect it will be ZK-BXM as it was based in Christchurch at about this time - ZK-CFT was based North of Auckland)


I am trying to piece together my Horizon's past history........ I have no log book history prior to 1990.
(Can anybody point to the previous log book/s for ZK-CLK?).
looks like it went straight from French manufacturer to NZ.(1965?)
According to your description, it went through quite a few owners while in your country.
Any further stories or fotos your members can provide will be much appreciated. I also forward anything to the 200 APAG members in Europe...they find anything related to the GY80 of great interest.
(APAG is the Association of owners & lovers of Gardan Aircraft. Have a look at http://avionsgardan.free.fr/  ).Attached is a foto I took of my GY80 (about 2001?) , when I first spotted it (love at first sight!). This was taken at Bunbury Airport (down the coast from Perth). The person standing in front is Blair Howe, who imported it from NZ.

I believe Blair is from NZ. He now owns a flying school and air charter company at Bunbury....I do my flying training there.
Also attached is a foto I scanned from a small booklet I found at a flea market. It was a booklet of NZ G.A. The foto of ZK-CLK originally had a young boy standing in front of the aircraft.....I used the computer to "remove" him.

So it looks as though 'CLK / 'YOG had at least 4 identities....your first (black and white) photo of CLK at Timaru 1965 in NZ Aerosales markings, is probably the livery it arrived from France. I wonder what those colours were?. (It was white with red trim - new pic added below. Taken at Timaru 1965)

I have attached a couple of fotos of GY80's in original 1965 factory livery, ...looks same as the CLK Timaru style.

(Below are three pics of VH-YOG sent by Allan).

Now that I have discovered your NZcivil website, I will be spending endless hours perusing it.....fantastic stuff!....Bristol freighter, radial Bennett Airtruck, Victa Aircruiser etc.


Thank goodness all those fotos were saved. I will have a dig thru my boxes of fotos to see if I have anything of interest from past visits to NZ (1971?) (Waiting with baited breath to see these oldies)


yours,
Allan Churn, Perth, Western Ausralia

Can anybody add to the history of these aircraft with photos, stories, logbook etc.

Kraljevo Airport

The Serbian Government, local authorities and USAID are committing millions of Euros in the development of the military airport Ladejvci, near the town of Kraljevo, located in Central Serbia. The airport, built in 1965 and mostly destroyed during the 1999 NATO bombing, is expected to be open for commercial flights by the summer of 2011 under the name Morava Airport. The Serbian Army, the owner of Ladjevci, has given its approval for the airport to be used jointly for both commercial and military flights. The army’s approval was the last piece of the puzzle needed in order for development to begin.

Unprecedented interest has been shown for the development of Kraljevo Airport. Initially, the cities of Kraljevo, Čačak and Kragujevac showed interest for the airport’s development but since then another eight have shown their support - Novi Pazar, Raška, Ivanjica, Lučani, Gornji Milanovac, Knić, Vrnjačka Banja and Trstenik. All of these cities and town will be co-financing the airport’s development which will cost 22.5 million Euros. On June 17, the Serbian Government approved the project and drafted a planned timeline of the airport’s development.

The construction of a new control tower, replacing the one bombed, will begin in the next two months. Soon after, the runway will be extended by 250 metres, bringing the runway’s total length to 2.500 metres. The airport is expected to open in August 2011. It is believed that the Government has moved swiftly to approve the airport’s development due to requests made by the Fiat automaker which owns the Zastava car manufacturer in nearby Kragujevac.

The airport in Kraljevo will be named Morava after the nearby river, while the military part of the airport will continue to be called Ladjevci.

Now undergoing a major spruce up is Chris Cowan's Hughes 369D ZK-HUW , c/n 128-0415D.
This has been with Coastwide Helicopters Ltd since June of 1988. I recall it being based at Barrytown for some years, but it is now at Greymouth.

See earlier post at http://design-plane.blogspot.com/2009/04/17200-hours.html  I would imagine it must now be nearing its 18,000 hour mark.

32,000 psi should shift most of the paint.

Above at Heli Maintenance 17-08-2010.

The two above photos taken on 19-08-2010.
Job progressing nicely.

Skopje from September

The reincarnated MAT Macedonian Airlines, will begin operations from Skopje in September, the airline reports. Mat Airways, which has been operating summer flights for the Serbian tour operator Kon Tiki Travel from Belgrade, plans to move to its new home in Skopje. The first scheduled charter destinations to be launched are Zurich, Prague, Rome and Barcelona. Flights to Germany, as well as Priština, are also expected to commence in the near future, the “Kanal 5” network reports.

“Our plan is to expand our fleet and purchase another aircraft. We aim to be the best in the airline industry, slowly but surely reaching the top”, Zoran Milevski, the president of the board of the Metropolitan Investment Group (one of Mat’s owners) said. Mat Airways currently owns a Boeing B737-500 which carries a hybrid livery comprising of the airline’s logo and bits and pieces of the Macedonian flag. Danijela Pusara, the airline’s PR manager, said that Mat is currently not seeking to become Macedonia’s national carrier but she did not rule out the possibility for the future.