Australian operator ferries in E190-E2 for Air Kiribati

By Andrew Curran.

Australian Corporate Jet Centres has ferried an E190-E2 to Australia. The aircraft, VH-IGJ (msn  19020183), landed in Brisbane (BNE) yesterday, July 8, after a marathon ferry flight from São José dos Campos (SJK).

Australian Corporate Jet Centres will operate the aircraft on behalf of the Kiribati Government. The Embraer is one of two E190-E2s the Kiribati Government agreed to purchase in 2018 after securing financial support from the Chinese Government in exchange for severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

However, the pandemic derailed flight plans. The first E190-E2 was delivered in 2019 to Australian operator Pionair, now known as ASL Airlines Australia. Under the original arrangement, Pionair was to operate the aircraft on behalf of the Kiribati Government, flying scheduled Air Kiribati services.

But for various reasons, those flights never got off the ground and the E190, VH-IKJ (msn 19020029), spent much of the early 2020s in storage at various Australian airports. The Kiribati Government retained ownership of the aircraft and, officially, Pionair/ASL Airlines Australia leased it from the government. However, in November 2025, the registered operator changed to Australian Corporate Jet Centres.

Australian Corporate Jet Centres now operates both Kiribati owned E190s

Melbourne Essendon (MEB) - based Australian Corporate Jet Centres is owned by Sam Iliades. In addition to the two E190-E2s, the company operates a fleet of jet, turboprop and piston-powered aircraft.

Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) records indicate that Australian Corporate Jet Centres is the registered operator of 14 aircraft, including propellor aircraft such as a Navajo Chieftain and Beechcraft Baron, various types of business jets, and a pair of long-range E145s.

Iliades has posted regular updates about the VH-IGJ ferry flight on LinkedIn. The brand-new jet was handed over to Australian Corporate Jet Centres at Embraer’s facility in São José dos Campos before flying to Brisbane via Bridgetown (BGI), Miami Opa-locka (OPF), Oakland (OAK), Honolulu (HNL), Kiritimati (CXI), Tarawa (TRW) and Port Vila (VLI). The ferry flight took seven days and operated under the Air Kiribati flight designator IK1.

E190s give Air Kiribati the ability to resume jet services

Neither Air Kiribati nor the Kiribati Government has publicised the ferry flight, and Air Kiribati did not respond to a request for comment. However, the Fiji-based Island Business reports that Kiribati’s Transport Minister, Alexander Teabo, and Embraer signed the paperwork last week transferring ownership of the aircraft to the Kiribati Government.

The aircraft will allow Air Kiribati to “operate direct flights from Kiribati to Auckland and Brisbane”.

Air Kiribati currently does not operate any jet aircraft. Its fleet comprises five Twin Otters, including four DHC-6-300s and one DHC-6-400. It also wet-leases a B737-700 from Nauru Airlines to operate scheduled flights between Tarawa and Kiritimati.

Kiribati is divided into three main groups, the Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands and Line Islands. They span an area roughly the size of the continental United States. The more than 3,200-kilometre distance between Tarawa, in the Gilbert Islands, and Kiritimati, in the Line Islands, is well beyond the range of a Twin Otter but, as this week’s ferry flight demonstrated, is easily handled by the E190-E2.

Following the aircraft's arrival in Brisbane, Iliades said that Australian Corporate Jet Centres would focus on completing CASA approvals to be operational over the coming months.

Photo: Australian Corporate Jet Centres.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com