Aviair Pty Ltd, previously known as Slingair Heliwork, is an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

and

air charter 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 ...

company based in Kununurra,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It operates air charter services and regular passenger services. Its main bases are

Kununurra Airport The East Kimberley Regional Airport , locally known as the Kununurra Airport, is an airport in Kununurra, Western Australia. The airport is west of the town. Heavy wet seasons often result in this area being cut off from essential outside ser ...

Broome International Airport Broome International Airport is a regional airport located west of the Broome GPO, Western Australia. Broome International Airport is the regional hub of the northwestern part of Western Australia. It is considered the gateway to the Kimber ...

and

Karratha Airport Karratha Airport is an airport in Karratha, Western Australia, Karratha, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The airport is from Karratha and south of Dampier, Western Australia, Dampier. History At the beginning of the iron ore ind ...

History

Aviair was established in 1984 as Slingair Heliwork by Kerry Slingsby. Aviair began providing air services in Kununurra,

shortly after its creation. In May 2008,

Grant Kenny Grant Hayden Kenny OAM (born 14 June 1963) is an Australian former Ironman, surf lifesaver and canoeist. Career Kenny made headlines in 1980 when, as a 16-year-old, he won both the Australian Junior and Open Iron Man Championship on the ...

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

and

Ironman Iron Man, Ironman or Ironmen may refer to: *Nathaniel "Iron Man" Avery (1939–1985), American caddie for Arnold Palmer *Travis Fulton (1977–2021), American mixed martial arts fighter *Gunnar Graps (1951–2004), Estonian musician *Mick Murphy ...

acquired Slingair for an unknown amount. Slingair received the

Sir David Brand Award The Sir David Brand Award for Tourism is the highest award for tourism in Western Australia, named after Sir David Brand (1912-1979), who was Premier of Western Australia from 1959 to 1971. It was established in 1972 as a single award, and is now t ...

every year from 1996 to 1998 and was a finalist in 2000. In 2010 and 2015 Slingair supported

field research Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fie ...

for discovering

rock shelters A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves ( karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost alwa ...

and artworks made by

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

in the Kimberley. In 2016 Slingair was purchased by the owners of HeliSpirit, Michael McConachy and Geoff Hamilton. Slingair was renamed Aviair. Further

in the

Kimberley region The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts ...

was supported by Aviair in 2019. On 6 May 2020, Aviair received $1.58 million to support it through the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

as part of the COVID-19 Regional Airline Network Support Program by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

. On 24 June 2021, Aviair announced they would commence a flight service from Derby to Broome on 16 August 2021.

Destinations

Aviair provides scheduled services to the following destinations: * Balgo * Broome *

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

Halls Creek Halls is a plural of the word hall. Halls may also refer to: People * Walter Halls (1871–1953), British trade unionist and politician * Ethel May Halls (1882–1967), American actress * Julian Halls (born 1967), British field hockey player * ...

* Kalumburu * Karratha * Kununurra * Newman *

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

Fleet

As of 2021, the Aviair fleet consists of the following aircraft: HeliSpirit, Aviair's sister company, also operates 25 helicopters:

Incidents and accidents

* On 18 August 2011, one of Slingair's former

Cessna 210 Centurion The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engined, high-wing general-aviation aircraft. First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986. Design and development The early Cess ...

aircraft (registration VH-OCM) performed a forced landing 800 meters short of runway 12 at

East Kimberley Regional Airport The East Kimberley Regional Airport , locally known as the Kununurra Airport, is an airport in Kununurra, Western Australia. The airport is west of the town. Heavy wet seasons often result in this area being cut off from essential outside ser ...

due to the pilot failing to switch selected fuel tanks, causing engine to stop. *On 8 August 2015, one of Slingairs's

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 ...

aircraft (registration VH-LNH) experienced an oil leak which forced them to return to their airport of origin. * On 16 November 2016, one of Aviair's

aircraft (registration VH-LNH) made a forced landing 8 km north-west of Solomon Airport,

due to an engine failure. * On 16 April 2022, an Aviair

Beechcraft Baron The Beechcraft Baron is a light twin-engined piston aircraft designed and produced by Beechcraft. The aircraft was introduced in 1961. A low-wing monoplane developed from the Travel Air, it remains in production. Design and development The di ...

aircraft (registration VH-NPT) with a pilot and passenger onboard was involved in a fire during final approach for runway 12 at

which resulted in a runway undershoot. The passenger was fatally injured and the aircraft was destroyed.

References

External links