Australian Airways Boeing 767-300ER

The 767 used to be the backbone of the Australian Airways fleet. The 33 767-300ERs that were operated flew both domestically and internationally.

Domestically, they flew the trunk routes such as Sydney-Melbourne, Sydney-Brisbane, and Sydney-Perth. Most of the flights on these routes were done using the 767 for many, many years, in fact.

Internationally, these flew to Asia and the Pacific. In Asia they flew as far as Japan and China, and in the Pacific they flew to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Fiji, and Hawaii.

On the second day of the 1985 Paris Air Show, Australian Airlines placed a massive order for Boeing aircraft. This order included:

x20 757-200
x10 767-200ER
x25 767-300ER

All three aircraft types would be fitted with Rolls Royce engines, it was announced. The first 767-300ER arrived in Sydney on 6 September 1988, with the first passenger flight taking place on 9 September that same year as AU0313 from Sydney to Melbourne, and back as AU0314. The first international 767-300ER service took place on 16 February 1989 as AU0101 Sydney-Auckland, and back as AU0102.

In 2001, competitor airline Pacific Australia Airlines collapsed after financial difficulties brought on by 9/11, a few years of financial troubles for their parent company Pacific Air Lines of the United States (side note, it's not a coincidence that Pacific New Zealand has the same naming convention, but this can be discussed when I make another post for them), and competing airlines. PacAus' 767s also feature Rolls Royce engines, so Australian Airways decided to snatch them up for a great deal, adding a further 8 767s to the fleet. Now Australian Airways had 33 767-300ERs in the fleet, plus 10 767-200ERS, making them one of, if not the the largest operator of the 767 in the Southern Hemisphere. Hell, even with 40+ 767s, they found that they were using every single one of them multiple times per day (depending where they were flying to).

Ff it wasn't so obvious already, The 767s were utilized extremely well by Australian Airways . However, they were looking old by the mid 2010s, especially with the 787 now rolling into service with Australian Airlines. On 6 June 2018, the last Australian Airways 767-300ER took off from Sydney bound for Melbourne as AU0303, and back as AU0304. After that, they were retired, ending three decades of 767 passenger service. Luckily, 2 of the 767s were converted to freighters in 2017/2018, which continue to fly to this day for Australian Airways Cargo.

VH-AQD: 1989 Boeing 767-323ER | Australian Airways | Currently: Scrapped in Mojave in January 2016