12 August 2026: There’s something pretty special about watching a new aircraft touch down at its new home for the first time and even more so when it has just travelled 16,380 kilometres to get there.
Last week, Machjet International’s newest Citation CJ4 arrived on the Sunshine Coast after a three-day journey from London that took our pilots across Europe, Central Asia, India and Southeast Asia before reaching Australia via Broome.
By the time they arrived home, they had spent 28.5 hours in the air and crossed 17 countries.
There were snow-capped Himalayan peaks, thunderstorms reaching 51,000 feet, a sunset over the Bay of Bengal, GPS jamming and, after several days flying through international airspace, the welcome sound of Australian air traffic controllers as the west coast came into view.
Here’s how the journey unfolded.
A different route home
Ordinarily, the shortest route from Europe to Australia would take the aircraft through the Middle East.
Given the current conflict and instability in the region, and the limited options available should the aircraft need to divert, our flight team instead planned a route further north.
That meant crossing Europe before heading across the Caspian Sea, through Central Asia, past Afghanistan and the Himalayas, down through India and across Southeast Asia before entering Australia at Broome.
Day One: London to Baku
The first day took the CJ4 from London to Baku, Azerbaijan, with a fuel stop in Istanbul, Turkey.
The flight across Europe took around four hours which was less time than the crew would later spend flying the final sector from Broome to the Sunshine Coast.
Between Istanbul and Baku, things became a little more interesting when the aircraft encountered GPS jamming for around 80 per cent of the flight.
It meant relying on the aircraft’s redundant systems and conventional navigation aids to continue the sector safely – something the pilots later described as making for “an interesting few hours”.
Day Two: Baku to Phuket
Day two was the longest sector of the trip, taking the aircraft from Baku to Phuket with fuel stops in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, and Nagpur, India.
The CJ4 first tracked east across the Caspian Sea into Uzbekistan, which turned out to be one of the unexpected highlights for the crew. They described the country as beautiful and the people as warm and welcoming.
From Uzbekistan, the route headed south, taking the aircraft abeam Afghanistan and the Himalayas.
With terrain in parts of the region averaging well over 20,000 feet, this sector required careful planning. Even at the CJ4’s cruising altitude of 45,000 feet, there was only around 25,000 feet between the aircraft and some of the terrain below, making depressurisation contingency planning particularly important.
The views, however, were spectacular, with snow-capped mountains visible below despite it being the middle of summer.
India presented a very different challenge as thunderstorms were building as high as 51,000 feet, which meant the crew spent much of the crossing away from their original flight-planned track as they navigated around the weather.
After refuelling in Nagpur, they headed east towards Southeast Asia as the sun set over the Bay of Bengal.
After refuelling in Nagpur, the crew headed east towards Asia as the sun set over the Bay of Bengal. With almost the entire sector over water, careful planning was needed around the weather and availability of suitable airports along the route before they continued into the night. A late arrival into Phuket brought them back into more familiar territory – and marked the end of a very long second day.
Day Three: Phuket to Sunshine Coast
The final day started with an early departure from Phuket. Flying east meant losing daylight much faster, so the crew were keen to get underway in order to arrive back on the Sunshine Coast at a reasonable time.
From Phuket, they tracked south past Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, over Bali and into Lombok for fuel.
With the weather playing nicely, the early morning flight also gave the crew a great view of Indonesia’s Mount Semeru.
From Lombok, they headed south towards Australia and, after several days crossing international airspace, hearing the dulcet tones of Australian air traffic controllers on the radio was a welcome sign they were getting close to home.
As the Australian coastline came into sight, so too did the bright white sands and turquoise waters of Broome – a pretty special sight after three days of flying and a perfect place for the CJ4’s first landing on Australian soil.
After a quick refuel in Broome, there was one last stretch ahead – and it was a big one. The CJ4 headed east across Australia as daylight faded, with the final hours of an already epic journey flown into the night. Eventually, the familiar lights of the Sunshine Coast appeared below and, three days and 16,380 kilometres after leaving London, our newest CJ4 touched down at its new home at Sunshine Coast Airport.
Behind the flight
It’s easy to look at the route on a map and see a line from London to the Sunshine Coast, but this trip was a great reminder of just how much happens behind the scenes to make a flight like this possible.
Across three days, the crew were constantly working through weather, fuel, international permits, changing airspace, terrain, suitable alternate airports and aircraft performance. The route itself had already been changed to avoid the Middle East, and once underway they encountered GPS jamming, some of the highest terrain in the world and thunderstorms over India reaching 51,000 feet.
It’s the kind of planning and decision-making our flight and operations teams deal with every day, although thankfully not every trip involves the Himalayas and 51,000-foot thunderstorms.
For our clients, most of that work happens quietly in the background. The end result should be the simple part – stepping aboard and knowing everything required to get you safely where you need to go has already been taken care of.
What happens next?
For now, our newest CJ4 is tucked safely inside Hangar 26 at Sunshine Coast Airport, with its epic journey home complete.
There are still a few finishing touches before it officially joins the Machjet International charter fleet, including the application of its new Australian registration, and then it will be our turn to show it off properly
We have a new photoshoot planned, we’ll take you inside the aircraft and share more about what this latest addition means for our growing fleet and, most importantly, where it can take our clients.
Until then, we’ll leave you with the numbers behind a pretty remarkable first trip:
- 16,380 kilometres travelled
- 28.5 flight hours
- 17 countries crossed
- Three days from London to the Sunshine Coast
And one very welcome new addition to the Machjet International fleet.
