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 ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

based in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 tech ...

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 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 that can take off and land on both solid ground and water. These aircraft are typically fixed-wing, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seap ...

. In 1977, it moved its operational base from

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

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 ar ...

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 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. 1983 also saw the airline purchase two

Grumman Mallard The Grumman G-73 Mallard is a medium, twin-engined amphibious aircraft. Many have been modified by replacing the original Pratt & Whitney Wasp, Pratt & Whitney Wasp H radial engines with modern turboprop engines. Manufactured from 1946 to 1951, ...

amphibians to supplement the smaller Buccaneers on tourist flights out to the Barrier Reef as well as to run a scheduled service to

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Destinations

* Whitsunday Airport * Whitsunday Coast Airport * Hamilton Island * Mackay Airport * Peppers Palm Bay *

Hayman Island Hayman Island is the most northerly of the Whitsunday Islands, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The island is and lies to the north-west of Hook Island. It is a private island open to the public, most famous for its luxury resort which ...

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 FAA in October 1984 and its Cargoma ...

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 and Hill Inlet in all its glory, 7 Kilometres of pure white silica beach on Whitsunday Island. *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 , date=December 1984 , volume=17 , issue=12 , pages=546–549 , issn=0002-2675

External links