O'Connor Airlines

O'Connor Airlines was an airline based at Mount Gambier, South Australia, Australia. It operated scheduled services from Mount Gambier to destinations in South Australia and Victoria. Its main base was Mount Gambier Airport, with a hub at Adelaide Airport, which serviced Mildura Airport and Port Augusta Airport. The airline also serviced Whyalla Airport until September 2007

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1973. Beginning as a one-aeroplane flight school in South Australia, O'Connor Airlines developed, over some years, into a freight and passenger service flying to 18 regional and country centres across the state. This was to change when it lost the freight contact. It subsequently relaunched itself, rebasing in Mount Gambier, and began services from that city to Adelaide and Melbourne. The IATA Code OL was used up to 1990). It then started flying to Whyalla. It began to service the Victorian city of Mildura in 1998, purchasing a QantasLink route. In 2006, after the cessation of Airlines of South Australia it began flying from Adelaide to Port Augusta.

The airline used Qantas facilities at the Adelaide airport. Originally, it used those of Australian Airlines.

It was reported in the Advertiser Newspaper, November 22nd 2007 that O'Connor Airline has been placed into voluntary administration with debts of between $4-5m AUD. This was largely blamed on high maintenance costs and quite high competition Administrators McGrath Nicol were at the time looking for a buyer of the service.

O'Connor Airlines ceased operations on the 14th of December 2007 after its administrators was unable to find a buyer willing to purchase the airline as a going concern.

On the 21st Feb 2008, the airlines creditors voted for a pooled Deed of Company Arrangement (DoCA) for the airline group to be broken up and allowed to commence trading again under new ownership.

Destinations

Domestic scheduled destinations as at July 2007:

• South Australia
• Adelaide Airport
• Port Augusta Airport
• Mount Gambier Airport

• Victoria
• Mildura Airport

• They flew to Renmark for a brief period in 2001.
• During 2000 they carried 41,732 passengers.
• Melbourne services ceased 1st July 2007 and Whyalla Services ceased 3rd September 2007

Fleet

The O'Connor Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at March 2007) :

• 2 BAe Jetstream 32

External links

• O'Connor Airlines
• Press Release of Melbourne Cessation

References