Yes, it was a decent act by Abels. But it was just an extention of sending an empty jet up to Broome to pick her up months earlier.
But I don't believe he did this just because he was good bloke. No, he did it to curry favour with the Silver Bodgie. An investment in the future, one could say.
A couple of years later when those pesky pilots were annoying him, time to ring Silver Bodgie and call in the favours?