Boeing 717 jet flies into Orange Airport

The largest commercial aircraft to have flown in and out of Orange has landed at Orange Regional airport.

While larger military aircraft have used Orange Airport in the past, this is believed to be the largest commercial aircraft.

Orange City Council’s Airport Community chair Cr Chris Gryllis said the the Boeing 717-200 is owned by QantasLink but was operated and crewed by major charter flight operator Cobham Aviation Services .

"The 125-seater aircraft which looked mostly full picked up a mine close-down crew from Orange last Friday (27 May) and flew back to Orange Monday (30 May), taking them to a remote mine on Groote Eylandt off the coast of the Northern Territory in the Gulf of Carpentaria", Cr Chris Gryllis said.

"The flight is a sign of the worth of ongoing upgrades to the Orange Regional Airport."

PASSENGERS : A specialist mining crew from Orange disembark after their charter flight from Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory.

The recent $19 million upgrade included lengthening the airport by 438 metres.

"Previously, with the shorter run-way, jets of this size had to take off with a smaller fuel load, and therefore had to stop for re-fuelling on longer flights like this," Cr Gryllis said. "This week’s flight made the trip to Groote Eylandt directly in three hours."

Last week the NSW Government announced a further $1.46 million grant to spray an epoxy micro-seal layer over the runway to reduce the impact of small stone chips being blown around by large jets, and also a major upgrade to a second taxi-way.

"Flights like this show that the major investment was well worth it."