is an
Airline based in
Newcastle ,
New South Wales ,
Australia . It is a commuter airline operating up to seven direct flights flights to Newcastle,
Inverell and
Sydney each weekday and six daily at weekends. Its main base is
Newcastle Airport (Williamtown) , with a hub at
Kingsford Smith International Airport , Sydney
1.
The airline was established on
23 October 1968 and started operations on
1 July 1971 . It originally was owned by the
Newcastle based Hilder family, however in
1980 the airline was sold to Masling Airlines, a company associated with the now defunct
Ansett Australia . It operated services for Ansett Australia and later became a wholly owned subsidiary.
Aeropelican's main route has historically been between Sydney and Newcastle Belmont Airport, in Newcastle's southern suburbs, with high frequency service using Twin Otters. Aeropelican originally owned this airport.
Following the collapse of Ansett Australia in September
2001 , Aeropelican was placed into administration. It was acquired by International Air Parts in April
2002 . On
20 June 2003 the airline entered into a commercial agreement with
Regional Express Airlines . It is wholly owned by International Air Parts (IAP) Group and has 23 employees (at March
2007 ).
In
2004 an
Embraer Bandeirante started services to augment the two
Twin Otter s used before. In 2005, a Metro aircraft was also added. Aeropelican commenced services from Sydney to Newcastle's other airport, Williamtown, to the north of the city on
March 1 ,
2004 and discontinued service from
Belmont Airport in March
2005 . In
2006 , three Jetstream 32s were ordered, with plans to announce new services. In December 2006, Aeropelican was awarded the Sydney to Inverell route licence.
Scheduled services currently operated are as follows (at February
2007 ):
As of March
2007 the Aeropelican fleet includes Aeropelican website :
