Australian mining company Mineral Resources has leased an A320-200 shortly after launching its own in-house fly-in-fly-out airline, MinRes Air (Perth International). VH-8FE (msn 5129) was formerly placed at Air France (AF, Paris CDG) as F-HBNL and ferried into Australia on July 18, 2024. It is now at the Flying Colours Aviation paintshop at Townsville.
Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) records show the aircraft was entered into the Australian register on July 12 to MinRes Air Aircraft Pty Ltd with its registration holder listed as MAM Aircraft Leasing 5129 (US), LLC. The CEO of Mineral Resources recently said the miner would be operating four of its own narrowbody Airbus aircraft by the end of 2024 to ferry workers from Australia's east coast to its mine sites in Western Australia.
Mineral Resources unveiled the MinRes Air brand earlier this month. However, until its A320 enters into service, it is relying on an A319-100 from Skytraders (SND, Sydney Kingsford Smith), which wears MinRes Air livery.
