AN aircraft made an emotional last flight before landing in the region.

The B737 Fiji Airways plane left its home country after 22 years of service. It had reached the end of its lease period with Fiji Airways.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Earlier this year, global aviation firm Willis established a new base at Teesside International Airport to repair, maintain and store aircraft from all over the world.

“The first aircraft, a Boeing 737 from Oslo in Norway, arrived last month, and this weekend, another Boeing 737, this time from Bangor in the USA, landed at our airport. Further aircraft are expected to arrive over the coming weeks as Willis steps up its operations.

“The first phase of the base’s development is seeing the creation of around 20 highly skilled engineering and management jobs. There is also further opportunity for expansion in Phase 2, with the possible development of additional hangar facilities.

“Yet more proof that at our airport isn’t just about holiday flights – however great they are – it is also creating local jobs for local people.”

DQ-FJF “Foxtrot”, also known as Island of Koro during its time in the Fiji fleet, accumulated over 66087:36 total aircraft hours, and operated 23,232 cycles.

Local photographer Andy Gibson, said: “That aircraft has never been in Europe before. It’s a big thing for them. They’ve had it since it was new. It’s been a real part of their community, they were talking about how emotional it was for them.”

On a Facebook post Fiji Airways, said: “Many of our colleagues have memories of Foxtrot over the years, and took time last week to say their goodbyes. This included our Engineering and Flight Operations Teams.”

The plane will be broken up by local company Willis Asset Management for parts.

Chris Smith, updater for the Teesside Airport Movements website, said: “To be honest it was more about the atmosphere the amount of people that were there. It was emotional - it was great to seeso many people taking an interest, just because of how far it had come. For such a short haul plane.”

The plane had a long journey, departing Nadi for LA via Honolulu on Friday. After an overnight layover, the aircraft flew to Bangor, Maine and then across to Teesside.