Plenty of people and corporations go around calling themselves “true blue” Australians, but how can they prove it?
Qantas goes around and slaps a big “Spirit of Australia” message down the side of every jet they own.
Yet a number of their planes aren’t even Australian owned – this 737-400 is registered in New Zealand as ZK-JTQ and is operated under a Qantas subsidiary called Jetconnect.
The ‘Australian Airliners’ website has the following to say:
Withdrawn from service and prepared for transfer to Qantas Jetconnect, New Zealand
Cancelled from the Australian Aircraft Register – June 21, 2006
Entered onto the New Zealand Aircraft Register as ZK-JTQ – June 21, 2006
Registered to Jetconnect Ltd, (NZ) Ltd
Ferried Melbourne – Christchurch as QF6011 on delivery to Jetconnect – June 22, 2006
Operated first Qantas Jetconnect revenue service Auckland – Wellington as QF4043 – June 23, 2006
Another person to spruik their Australian credentials is mining magnate Clive Palmer, who has travelled around the country in his private jet to promote his “Palmer United Party”.
Susan Windmiller photo via the Herald Sun
The one thing he forgot to tell anyone is that despite the Australian flag on the tail, he has registered his jet in the Isle of Man, a known tax haven.
Photo by Bidgee, via Wikimedia Commons
The Isle of Man aircraft registry gives the following details:
Registration mark: M-ATAR
Date registered: 10 February 2012
Change of registered owner: 29 June 2012
Registered owner:
Palmer Aviation Pty Ltd
Level 8, 380 Queen Street, Brisbane,
Queensland, 4000, AustraliaPrevious registration: C-GJDU
You can say whatever you like about being an Australian, but an aircraft registration will never lie!
Further reading
- Aircraft registration prefixs and patterns on Wikipedia
- Fake Jetconnect advertisement as featured on ABC program ‘Hungry Beast’
- More about Clive Palmer’s overseas registered jet at Vexnews
I wonder what they achieve by doing this. Is the rego fee cheaper in New Zealand ?
There was some coverage of this in 2006, I forget all the details. This aircraft ( and others like it ) were earmarked for domestic services in New Zealand. There was, and is, ongoing industrial issues at Qantas over pay rates for employees hired in different countries to do the same job.
NZ registration is about being able to hire cheaper crew by having them work under NZ laws rather than Australian laws.
Got it in one – Jetconnect is a way for Qantas to pay their pilots less than those who are members of the Australian and International Pilots Association:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Jetconnect-Qantas-in-all-but-pay-rates/tabid/421/articleID/167872/Default.aspx