Flight West Airlines: История австралийской региональной авиакомпании

Former Australian regional airline

Flight West Airlines was an Australian regional airline headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland. Established in May 1987, it operated predominantly in Queensland. The airline went into voluntary liquidation on 19 June 2001 before being sold to Queensland Aviation Holdings, the parent company of Alliance Airlines in April 2002. The company slogan is Jetting into new territory.

Flight West Airlines was established by Sir Dennis Buchanan in 1987 to operate subsidised passenger services to remote communities on Queensland Government contracts. Initially, the airline used Beechcraft Super King Air aircraft on these services from a base in Brisbane which ceased operations on 14 September 2001. Before entering liquidation in June 2001, Flight West serviced 34 destinations and employed over 420 staff. On 13 September 2001, Ansett itself collapsed, again halting Flight West services. After extensive restructuring, the airline was offered for sale on 29 September 2001. In an effort to revitalise the airline, the Australian Government announced on 6 November that they would underwrite the airline's operating costs for three months. The airline began flights between Gladstone and Brisbane on 17 November 2001. After the airline failed to sell, it was placed into Voluntary Administration on 4 December 2001. On 16 April 2002, it was announced that Queensland Aviation Holdings had purchased Flight West Airlines and intended to restructure the company under a new name, Alliance Airlines. Most of the assets of Flight West including the Fokker jets were purchased and the Embraer EMB 120s were sold. Alliance Airlines operated the Fokker 100s on selected charter routes from Brisbane, Townsville and Mount Isa for a period of time before suspending these regular services and operating ad hoc charter services.

Flight West operated 34 routes at the time its services were suspended. The Fokker jets were used on services linking Norfolk Island with Brisbane and Sydney and between Brisbane, Townsville, Gladstone, Longreach and Emerald. In Brisbane, the airline operated from the Ansett Domestic terminal. In Cairns, the airline operated from its own terminal on the western side of the airport adjacent to the Captain Cook Highway for a short time before transferring its operations to the Ansett Terminal in the main terminal complex on the eastern side of the airport. The Flight West base in Cairns was later sold to Transtate airlines.