Challenger 605 in UK
Newly Delivered Pakistan Government Challenger 605 in UK
Posted on 5 August, 2015
Recently delivered Pakistan Government Challenger 605 EYE77 at London-Luton Airport, where it had arrived last night and departed again this morning. Westleigh Bushell
AN INTERESTING visitor to London-Luton Airport has been newly acquired Pakistan Government Bombardier Challenger 605 EYE77 (c/n 5955, ex C-GWQR). The aircraft arrived at the airport yesterday evening, August 4 from Ankara, Turkey, although the flight is thought to have originated in Islamabad.
It left Luton again this morning, July 5, heading back initially to Ankara again. The aircraft’s appearance in the UK was the first time it had been seen in service, the Canadian test registration having only been cancelled on June 19 following its sale to Pakistan.
As previously reported on AFD, the serial EYE77 was previously carried by a Hawker 4000, which was only in service for around 12 months before being disposed of in February 2014. It was one of two of the type acquired by Pakistan, although it is still unconfirmed whether the second one ever entered service.
It has never been positively confirmed what these mysterious aircraft were used for and it is unknown which Government department bought them. However, it is suspected that they were acquired for surveillance missions on behalf of Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which is the country’s primary national security and intelligence agency. It seems likely that the Challenger has been purchased for similar duties, although at present there is no sign externally of any specialised surveillance equipment. AFD-Dave Allport
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