Australian Commercial Aviation Collection

Information

IATA Code: OT

ICAO Code: PEL

Known As: Aeropelican Air Services

Full Name: Aeropelican Air Services Pty Ltd.

Country: Australia

Callsign: Aeropelican

History:

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 Otters 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 services 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.

Logo: This logo from the Ansett era

Information Source:

Logo: http://www.aerosite.net

History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page