Aus-Air (Australian Air Charterers Pty Ltd) 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

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 ...

, Australia. It operated a regional airline network, linking rural communities and provincial centres in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

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 ...

and southern

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

with Melbourne. Its main base was

Moorabbin Airport Moorabbin (Harry Hawker) Airport is a mostly general aviation airport for light aircraft located in between the southern Melbourne suburbs of Heatherton, Cheltenham, Dingley Village and Mentone. It also receives commercial airline service. ...

, Melbourne.

Code data

* IATA Code: NO * ICAO Code: AUS

History

Aus-Air Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (VH-OZG) at Moorabbin Airport

The privately owned Australian Air Charterers was established in 1956 and commenced scheduled services in November 1986 between

Essendon Airport Essendon Fields Airport , colloquially known by its former name Essendon Airport, is a public airport serving scheduled commercial, corporate-jet, charter and general aviation flights. It is located next to the intersection of the Tullamarin ...

and Smithton Airport,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The company moved its scheduled operations to its home base at

in July 1987. The Aus-Air website (in December 2008 still accessible) stated that in the latter-1990s it had 50 employees. The company encountered financial difficulties and in 1999 was placed in Administration - a legal term in Australian Law not unlike

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

Bankruptcy in the USA. The company and its assets were offered for sale however no buyer was found and Aus-Air ceased scheduled operations on 4 July 1999. The Aus-Air fleet of aircraft was subsequently purchased by

Bankstown Bankstown is a suburb south west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 16 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is located in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, hav ...

-based Airtex Aviation. As of December 2008 Aus-Air still operated three single-engined aircraft on a charter

Air Operator 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 ...

. As of April 2011, Aus-Air operates from

Echuca Echuca ( ) is a town on the banks of the Murray River and Campaspe River in Victoria, Australia. The border town of Moama is adjacent on the northern side of the Murray River in New South Wales. Echuca is the administrative centre and largest ...

in Victoria, north of Melbourne and offers charter flights.Another Website of Aus-Air
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Destinations

At the time of its closure in 1999 Aus-Air operated services to the following domestic destinations: *

(

) * King Island *

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colo ...

* Devonport * Launceston *

Burnie Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. When founded in 1827, it was named Emu Bay, being renamed after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company, in the early 1840s. , Burnie had an urban popu ...

Fleet

The Aus-Air fleet at the time it ceased operations consisted of the following aircraft: * 2

Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max ...

* 4 Piper PA31-350 Chieftain * 2 Piper PA-31 Navajo

References

*Annual Regional Airline Directory 1999 '' Australian Aviation'' issue 157 December 1999 page 49

External links