Fly Tiwi is an Australian airline based in Darwin, Northern Territory, offering scheduled passenger services between the Northern Territory capital and communities located on the Tiwi, South Goulburn and Croker islands, as well as a number of remote

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

communities. The company is wholly owned by the Hardy Aviation group, Australia's largest general aviation company, and was founded in 2008 in association with the Tiwi Land Council and, operates over 60 flights per week between 10 destinations.

History

Schedules services under the 'Fly Tiwi' brand commenced in November 2008, offering flights on routes between Darwin and Nguiu on Bathurst Island and connecting Darwin with

Pirlangimpi Pirlangimpi, formerly Garden Point, is a populated place on Melville Island in the Northern Territory, Australia. History Pirlangimpi lies from the site of the first British settlement in northern Australia, the short-lived Fort Dundas. The ...

and Milikapiti on Melville Island several times per day. In January 2009 a third route was added providing daily services to South Goulburn Island and the community of Minjilang on Croker Island, and in May began services to Ramingining three times per week, adding a fifth route to

Gapuwiyak Gapuwiyak, also known as Lake Evella, is an Aboriginal Australian community located in north-eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, south of the head of Buckingham Bay and about the same distance south-west of Arnhem Bay. The settlement had a ...

twice per week in early 2010. Fly Tiwi, since 2017, has been servicing these routes daily from Monday to Friday. On 29 June 2010, Fly Tiwi inaugurated services to

Tennant Creek Tennant Creek () is a town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the Northern Territory#Cities and towns, seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with ...

twice per week, but has since discontinued this service. From mid-2017, Fly Tiwi added another route servicing the community of the Milingimbi Island, which it also services Monday to Friday. Fly Tiwi is a major sponsor of the Tiwi Bombers Football Club, providing air transport for the team to travel to Darwin to compete in the Northern Territory Football League competition since 2010. In February 2012, Fly Tiwi was one of a number of aviation companies that participated with the

Northern Territory Police The Northern Territory Police Force is the police body that has legal jurisdiction over the Northern Territory of Australia. This police service has 1,607 police members (2021-22 financial year) made up of 83 senior sergeants, 228 sergeants, 912 ...

in 'Operation Bristol', a crackdown on the trafficking of illegal drugs to remote communities which resulted in the seizure of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

and

kava Kava or kava kava (''Piper methysticum'': Latin 'pepper' and Latinized Ancient Greek, Greek 'intoxicating') is a plant in the Piperaceae, pepper family, native to the Pacific Islands. The name ''kava'' is from Tongan language, Tongan and Marqu ...

with an estimated street value of over $300,000.

Destinations

As of 2019, Fly Tiwi offers services to the following destinations: * Darwin * Wurrumiyanga (Bathurst Island) * Minjilang (Croker Island) * Garden Point (Melville Island) *

(Lake Evella) * Milingimbi Island * Ramingining * Milikapiti (Snake Bay) * Warruwi (South Goulburn Island) *

Maningrida Maningrida ( Ndjébanna: ''Manayingkarírra'', Kuninjku: ''Manawukan'') is an Aboriginal community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is east of Darwin, and north east of Jabiru. It is on ...

Flights to and from Darwin International Airport operate out of a dedicated Fly Tiwi terminal located adjacent to the

General Aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

apron.

Fleet

Fly Tiwi scheduled flights are operated using aircraft drawn from Hardy Aviation's fleet of 32 aircraft. Typically, twin piston engine, 10 seat

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 108. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. All seats are easily removable so ...

and 404 types are used for regular services. Single-engine Cessna 208B Caravan are also used for regular services. The fleet also includes pressurised Fairchild Metro and Cessna 441s, used for longer routes, as well as a number of smaller types that can operate charters for Fly Tiwi.

References

External links

{{Airlines of Australia Airlines established in 2008 Australian companies established in 2008 Regional airlines Companies based in Darwin, Northern Territory Tiwi Islands Aviation in the Northern Territory Airlines of Australia

History

Destinations

Fleet

See also

References

External links