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Fleet History

TAA Douglas DC-9-30

The TAA Douglas DC-9-30 story begins in April 1967, when Trans-Australia Airlines took delivery of its first sleek, T-tailed twin-jet.

Fleet History

TAA Douglas DC-9: The Fleet

TAA's first DC-9, registered VH-TJJ, first flew on 12 March 1967 and was ferried to Melbourne's Essendon Airport, arriving on 13 April 1967. It entered revenue service shortly afterwards in a 91-seat configuration, with each DC-9 able to do the work of two Vickers Viscount turboprops on TAA's busier short routes.

TAA went on to operate a fleet of twelve Douglas DC-9-31s, registered in sequence from VH-TJJ through to VH-TJU. Under the Two Airline Policy, Ansett Airlines received its own fleet of twelve Douglas DC-9s around the same time, registered VH-CZA to VH-CZL — giving both major domestic carriers matching short-haul jet fleets, as the policy required.

One TAA Douglas DC-9 (VH-TJL), later became a familiar sight to holidaymakers repainted in the airline's "Coral Islander" scheme, celebrating Queensland's Great Barrier Reef — more on this can be found on our TAA Aircraft Livery page.

You can find a detailed list of all TAA Douglas DC-9 aircraft here.

TAA Douglas DC-9
TAA Douglas DC-9
TAA Douglas DC-9 in Coral Livery
TAA Douglas DC-9 in Coral Livery

Service Entry

A New Short-Haul Workhorse

The DC-9's T-tail configuration and rear-mounted engines gave it a clean wing and a quiet cabin, while its built-in airstairs and ability to operate from runways as short as 5,000 feet meant it could serve smaller regional airports that had previously been out of reach for jet aircraft. For TAA, this made the DC-9 an ideal complement to the larger Boeing 727, opening up faster jet services to a wider range of ports across the network.

To support the new fleet, TAA commissioned a dedicated DC-9 flight simulator from Redifon in England at a cost of around $1 million. Originally scheduled for delivery in January 1967, the sophisticated system needed extra development time and wasn't accepted until January 1968; it arrived in Australia in June 1968 and was fully operational by September. More detail on this can be found on our TAA Flight Simulators page.

Through the 1980s, the TAA Douglas DC-9s received a substantial cabin refurbishment, including new Airbus-style seating with more legroom, updated cabin decor and enclosed overhead lockers — bringing the ageing airframes up to a more contemporary passenger standard alongside the airline's newer wide-body aircraft.

Technical Snapshot

Aircraft Specifications

  • Manufacturer: Douglas Aircraft Company / McDonnell Douglas
  • Model: DC-9-31
  • Engines: 2 × Pratt & Whitney JT8D low-bypass turbofans
  • Passenger capacity: approx. 91–115, depending on configuration
  • Range: approx. 1,500 nautical miles (2,780 km)
  • Cruise speed: approx. 485 knots (900 km/h)
  • Notable feature: T-tail, rear-mounted engines and built-in airstairs, allowing operation from short regional runways

Legacy

A Long Career Across Two Airlines

The TAA Douglas DC-9 remained a core part of the TAA — and later Australian Airlines — fleet right through into the 1980s, flying alongside the Boeing 727 on the airline's busiest short and medium routes. As the fleet was progressively retired, several TAA Douglas DC-9s went on to further careers overseas, including as freighters with US operators.

The TAA Douglas DC-9 went on to become one of the most widely produced airliners of its era, with more than 970 built worldwide across all series before production ended in 1982 — a scale of success that TAA's own long-serving fleet reflected in miniature.

More on TAA's jet-age expansion can be found on our TAA Aircraft Fleet (1961–1972) page, and on the aircraft that flew alongside the DC-9 on our TAA Boeing 727 page.

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