O'Connor Airlines was an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

based in

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It operated scheduled services from Mount Gambier to destinations in South Australia and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Its main base was

Mount Gambier Airport Mount Gambier Regional Airport is an airport in the Limestone Coast, South Australia. It is located on the Riddoch Highway in Wandilo, about north of Mount Gambier. It is the only commercial airport servicing the Limestone Coast region of ...

, with a hub at

Adelaide Airport Adelaide Airport , also known as Adelaide International Airport, is the principal airport of Adelaide, South Australia and the fifth-busiest airport in Australia, servicing 8.5 million passengers in the financial year ending 30 June 201 ...

, which serviced

Mildura Airport Mildura Airport is located southwest of Mildura, Victoria, Australia. It is the busiest regional airport in Victoria, the 32nd busiest Australian airport Refers to "Regular Public Transport (RPT) operations only" and has twice been named Aust ...

and Port Augusta Airport. The airline also serviced Whyalla Airport until September 2007.

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1973. Beginning as a one-aeroplane flight school in

, O'Connor Airlines developed, over some years, into a freight and passenger service flying to 18 regional and country centres across the state. This was to change when it lost the freight contact. It subsequently relaunched itself, rebasing in

, and began services from that city to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The IATA Code OL was used up to 1990. It then started flying to

Whyalla Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta i ...

. It began to service

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area h ...

in 1998, purchasing a QantasLink route. In 2006, after Airlines of South Australia ceased operations, it began flying from Adelaide to Port Augusta. The airline used

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

facilities at both Adelaide and Melbourne airports. Originally, it used those of

Australian Airlines Australian Airlines was a full-service airline based in Australia, servicing Australian and Asian destinations between 2002 and 2006. It was an all-economy, full-service international leisure carrier, and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Qan ...

. In November 2007 O'Connor Airline was placed into

voluntary administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry o ...

with debts of between $4–5m AUD. This was largely blamed on high maintenance costs and high competition. Administrators McGrath Nicol was at the time looking for a buyer of the service. O'Connor Airlines ceased operations on 14 December 2007 after its administrators were unable to find a buyer willing to purchase the airline as a going concern. On 21 February 2008, the airline's creditors voted for a pooled Deed of Company Arrangement (DoCA) for the airline group to be broken up and then commence trading again under new ownership. Many of the assets were subsequently purchased by Mount Gambier businessman Adrian de Bruin, including the

Air Operator's Certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in plac ...

, and used to establish de Bruin Air.

Destinations

** Port Augusta Airport **

** Whyalla Airport *

Melbourne Airport Melbourne Airport , colloquially known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne, and the second busiest airport in Australia. It opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is ...

*O'Connor flew to Renmark for a brief period in 2001. During 2000 the airline carried 41,732 passengers. Melbourne services ceased 1 July 2007 and Whyalla services ceased 3 September 2007

Fleet

The O'Connor Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at March 2007): *2

BAe Jetstream 32 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Britis ...

References

External links

O'Connor AirlinesPress Release of Melbourne Cessation
{{Airlines of Australia, state=collapsed Airlines established in 1973 Airlines disestablished in 2007 Defunct airlines of Australia 1973 establishments in Australia 2007 disestablishments in Australia