Skyline Aviation (Napier/Hastings) has added its maiden Cessna 680 Sovereign to be used for medevac operations across the South Pacific, Loop Nauru has reported.

The air ambulance and charter specialist based out of New Zealand has already operated its first long-distance mission with the new aircraft, carrying a patient and an intensive care medical team from Port Vila in Vanuatu to Auckland International.

Thanks to the new aircraft, the company will be able to serve a larger market while still retaining adequate performance.

"This jet has very good short field capability. We can land on and take off from very short runways which is quite unusual for a jet in this performance category," managing director Mike Toogood said.

Skyline Aviation eyes medevac flights to each of Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati with the new Cessna Aircraft Company (Wichita Cessna Aircraft Field) jet.

The carrier's fixed-wing fleet also includes a Nextant 400XT Jet (a modernised Hawker Beechcraft (Wichita Beech Factory) 400), a Cessna 510, a Beech 99, and a Beech (twin turboprop) 200. Skyline Aviation also operates helicopters.