Air Whitsunday is a

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a airline ticket, ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad h ...

based in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

that operates a fleet of

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

s. The company also operates tours.

History

Air Whitsunday pioneered seaplane services to the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

and the

Whitsunday Island Whitsunday Island is the largest island in the Whitsunday group of islands located off the coast of Central Queensland, Australia. History Whitsunday Island was inhabited by the sea-faring Ngaro people for around 8,000 years prior to British ...

in April 1973, using a

Lake Buccaneer The Lake Buccaneer is an American four-seat, light amphibious aircraft derived from the Colonial C-2 Skimmer, itself a development of the three-seat Colonial C-1 Skimmer. Development The Colonial Aircraft of Sanford, Maine developed the C-2 ...

light

amphibian aircraft An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft (typically fixed-wing) that can take off and land on both solid ground and water, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes (flying boats a ...

. In 1977, it moved its operational base from

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

in the

Whitsunday Islands The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands are ...

to Whitsunday Airport on the mainland, later purchasing the airport. By 1981, the airline was operating a fleet of five Buccaneers, which were supplemented by a

Partenavia P.68 The Partenavia P.68, now Vulcanair P68, is a light aircraft designed by Luigi Pascale and initially built by Italian Partenavia. It made its first flight on 25 May 1970, its type certification was granted on 17 November 1971 and was transferred ...

in 1982 and a

Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

in 1983, which were used on sightseeing flights and for scheduled passenger services to

Mackay Airport Mackay Airport located in South Mackay, Queensland, Australia is a major Australian regional airport that services the city of Mackay, with flights to the cities of Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville, Hamilton Island, Cairns and Sydney. In ...

. 1983 also saw the airline purchase two Grumman Mallard amphibians to supplement the smaller Buccaneers on tourist flights out to the Barrier Reef as well as to run a scheduled service to Townsville.

Destinations

* Whitsunday Airport *

Whitsunday Coast Airport Proserpine Airport (also known as Whitsunday Coast Airport) is located in Gunyarra, Whitsunday Region, Queensland, Australia, south of Proserpine, Queensland, Proserpine. The airport serves the mainland and offshore islands with flights to Br ...

* Hamilton Island *

Peppers Palm Bay Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

Hayman Island Hayman Island is the most northerly of the Whitsunday Islands, off the coast of Central Queensland in the locality of Whitsundays in the Whitsunday Region, Queensland, Australia. The island is . It is a private island open to the public, most ...

Fleet

*3-

Cessna 208 Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA ...

s *3- DHC-2 DeHavilland Beavers

Tours

From Whitsunday Airport: *Reef Adventure Tour - showcases the magnitude of the

from above, before landing and transferring to a semi-submersible at Hardy Reef for coral viewing and snorkelling. Aerial views of Hook Island and Hardy and Heart Reefs. *Whitehaven Experience - captures

Whitehaven Beach Whitehaven Beach is on Whitsunday Island, Australia. The island is accessible by boat, seaplane & helicopter from Airlie Beach, as well as Hamilton Island. It lies across from Stockyard Beach, better known as Chalkie's Beach, on Haslewood Isl ...

and Hill Inlet in all its glory, 7 Kilometres of pure white silica beach on

. *Reef & Whitehaven Panorama - the Great Barrier Reef and Whitehaven Beach, all on the one tour. Combine all of the features of our Reef Adventure Tour with a one-hour stop on Whitehaven Beach, an extraordinarily beautiful part of our World Heritage National Park. *Reef & Island Flight - Scenic flights.

References

* {{cite magazine , last=Goodall , first=Geoff , title=Barrier Reef Mallards , magazine=

Aircraft Illustrated ''Aircraft Illustrated '' was a British monthly aviation magazine covering military and civil aviation topics with an emphasis on photographic features. It was first published in 1968, renamed ''Aircraft'' in 2009 (later, ''Classic Aircraft'') a ...

, date=December 1984 , volume=17 , issue=12 , pages=546–549 , issn=0002-2675

External links