Boeing 737 ZK-JJD

While preparing another post some time ago I came across a New Zealand registered Boeing 737 I had never heard of, Boeing 737-2H6 ZK-JJD which was on the New Zealand register for 10 weeks in 1998.

ZK-JJD/1      Boeing 737-2H6                                     Line No. 559                     c/n 21732

9M-MBJ       28/02/1979     First flight

                     19/03/1979     Malaysian Airline System, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

                     05/04/1991     International Lease Finance Corp, California, USA

                     05/04/1991     Malaysian Airline System, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...leased

                     00/07/1993     Registration cancelled

PK-IJF          19/07/1993     Bouraq Indonesia Airlines, Jakarta, Indonesia

                     00/07/1998     Registration cancelled

ZK-JJD         10/07/1998     Air New Zealand Ltd, Auckland

                     31/07/1998     Air New Zealand Engineering Services, Christchurch

                     29/09/1998     Registration cancelled

3B-LXM       29/09/1998     Air Gabon, Libreville, Gabon

                     00/00/2000     Registration cancelled

PK-IJO         05/12/2000     Bouraq Indonesia Airlines, Jakarta, Indonesia

                     00/00/2001     Registration cancelled

PK-ALH       00/09/2001     Star Air, Juanda, Indonesia

                     00/00/2002     Registration cancelled

PK-KJM       18/09/2002     Bali International Air Service, Jakarta, Indonesia

                     00/00/2004     Registration cancelled

PK-RIN        00/09/2004     Mandala Airlines, Soekarno, Indonesia

                     00/01/2006     Withdrawn from use and stored Jakarta, Indonesia

I had never heard of this aircraft so I contacted ex-Air New Zealand's John Mounce who was able to fill me in with the details.

John writes, Here she is. It was a deal arranged with one of the company Lessors........Indigo Aviation (Sweden) and was to facilitate maintenance on the aircraft prior to going to Air Gabon. Norm Taylor handled it for Indigo and pulled in some favours to make it happen. Air New Zealand was the only legal entity recognised by CAA (rather than Air New Zealand Engineering Services) but it was never intended to be more than a project for enabling maintenance. 

Here is the aircraft on delivery.........Norm was on the flight and took this image.

Beyond that I have memory fade!

On its delivery flight to Gabon and carrying a New Zealand registration, Air Gabon's Boeing 737 ZK-JJD at Honiara, Solomon Islands, in September 1998. The aircraft became 3B-LXM in Gabon. Photo : N Taylor