Pearl Aviation
Encyclopedia
Pearl Aviation is the most prominent of a group of aviation companies owned by Paspaley Pearling
. It is an air charter
company based in Darwin, Northern Territory
, Australia
. It operates specialist aviation services including air ambulance
, mining site flights, offshore oil support and contract charter. Its main base is Darwin International Airport
, with other bases at Adelaide International Airport
, Alice Springs Airport
, Broome International Airport
, Gove Airport
and Katherine
Airport.. Other companies in the Pearl group conduct business jet
charter and search and rescue
operations, Fixed base operator
services, and operations in support of Paspaley's pearling
activities, from bases at Darwin Airport, Perth Airport
, Mungalalu Truscott Airbase
, Cairns International Airport
, Essendon Airport
and Brisbane Airport
.
, which acquired East-West Airlines
in 1984 and was itself acquired by Ansett Airlines
in 1987. The company was divided into airline and non-airline operations and the non-airline operations were purchased in 1996 by Paspaley Pearling
(which by that time had been operating aircraft to its pearl farms for over ten years) and renamed. One of the divisions of East-West that was purchased was an operation at Sydney Airport
, conducting air ambulance flights for the Ambulance Service of New South Wales
. In 2004 Pearl Aviation was awarded a ten-year contract to operate four Beechcraft Super King Air
s configured as air ambulances for the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service, after losing a similar Ambulance Service of New South Wales contract to the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia
the previous year. Pearl Aviation is wholly owned by the Paspaley Pearls Group and has 120 employees (at March 2007).
AeroPearl is a joint venture
between Pearl Aviation and Aerodata AG of Germany
, based at Brisbane Airport. It operates under contract to Airservices Australia
; it uses two Beechcraft Super King Air
s to check the network of Australian civil aviation navaids
, and has also performed similar work in various Asian countries.
AeroRescue conducts Search and Rescue
flights on behalf of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority
(AMSA), using a fleet of five Dornier 328
s and one Beechcraft 200T Super King Air
based around Australia (Perth, Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and Melbourne). AeroRescue was awarded a contract by AMSA to provide aircraft in late 2005, and reached its full complement of aircraft in 2007. These aircraft are equipped with video cameras (FLIR), surface radar scanners and radios to support Search and Rescue operations on land and on sea. All different devices are linked into one single operator workstation called AeroMission which was installed by Aerodata AG between 2005 and 2007 at the Braunschweig Airport
in Germany
.
Lloyd Aviation Jet Charter, also known as Pearl Air International, operates a fleet of Grumman Turbo Mallard
s to fly Paspaley employees to the company's pearl farms. The Mallards have been a feature of Paspaley's pearling operations since the early 1980s, and were modified in-house to be powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6
turbine engines in place of the original radial engine
s. Lloyd Aviation also operates a Dassault Falcon 900C business jet on charter flights.
Pearl Flight Center is a Fixed Base Operator (FBO), providing ground handling services for corporate and private aircraft as well as the company's aircraft, via two facilities at Darwin Airport and a facility at Perth Airport. It also manages the charter operations of Pearl group aircraft.
Paspaley
Paspaley is the largest pearling company in Australia. It started operations in the 1930s and is based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It has about 20 farms, situated between Dampier, Western Australia and the Cobourg Peninsula east of Darwin....
. It is an air charter
Air charter
Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft as opposed to individual aircraft seats...
company based in Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It operates specialist aviation services including air ambulance
Air ambulance
An air ambulance is an aircraft used for emergency medical assistance in situations where either a traditional ambulance cannot reach the scene easily or quickly enough, or the patient needs to be transported over a distance or terrain that makes air transportation the most practical transport....
, mining site flights, offshore oil support and contract charter. Its main base is Darwin International Airport
Darwin International Airport
Darwin International Airport is the busiest airport serving the Northern Territory and the tenth busiest airport in Australia. It is the only airport serving Darwin....
, with other bases at Adelaide International Airport
Adelaide International Airport
Adelaide Airport is the principal airport in the South Australian capital of Adelaide and the fifth busiest airport in Australia, servicing 7,362,000 passengers in the year ending 30 June 2011. Located adjacent to West Beach, it is approximately west of the city-centre...
, Alice Springs Airport
Alice Springs Airport
Alice Springs Airport is a small regional airport 14 kilometres south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.The airport has two runways, the largest of which can accommodate a Boeing 747 or 777 landing...
, Broome International Airport
Broome International Airport
Broome International Airport is a regional airport located at Broome, Australia.Broome International Airport is the regional hub of the northwestern part of Western Australia. It is considered the gateway to the Kimberley. In the year ending 30 June 2009 the airport handled 391 914 passengers...
, Gove Airport
Gove Airport
All flights are met by a shuttle bus connecting to Nhulunbuy.- Statistics :Gove Airport was ranked 42nd in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2009-2010....
and Katherine
Katherine, Northern Territory
Katherine is a town situated southeast of Darwin in the "Top End" of Australia in the Northern Territory. It is the fourth largest settlement in the Territory after the capital Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs...
Airport.. Other companies in the Pearl group conduct business jet
Business jet
Business jet, private jet or, colloquially, bizjet is a term describing a jet aircraft, usually of smaller size, designed for transporting groups of up to 19 business people or wealthy individuals...
charter and search and rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
operations, Fixed base operator
Fixed base operator
A Fixed-base operator or commonly abbreviated FBO is a term developed in the United States after the passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926...
services, and operations in support of Paspaley's pearling
Pearl hunting
Pearl hunting or pearl diving refers to a largely obsolete method of retrieving pearls from pearl oysters, freshwater pearl mussels and, on rare occasions, other nacre-producing molluscs, such as abalone.-History:...
activities, from bases at Darwin Airport, Perth Airport
Perth Airport
Perth Airport is an Australian domestic and international airport serving Perth, the capital and largest city of Western Australia. The airport itself is located in the suburb of Perth Airport....
, Mungalalu Truscott Airbase
Mungalalu Truscott Airbase
Mungalalu Truscott Airbase, which during World War II was known as Truscott Airfield is today a commercial air field in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. The airbase falls under the traditional ownership of the Wunambal Gaambera people...
, Cairns International Airport
Cairns International Airport
Cairns Airport is an international airport in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Formerly operated by the Cairns Port Authority, the airport was sold by the Queensland Government in December 2008 to a private consortium. It is the seventh busiest airport in Australia. The airport is located north of...
, Essendon Airport
Essendon Airport
Essendon Airport is located at Essendon, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Victoria, Australia. It is located next to the Tullamarine Freeway on , from the Melbourne Central Business District and from Melbourne Airport.-History:...
and Brisbane Airport
Brisbane Airport
Brisbane Airport is the sole passenger airport serving Brisbane and the third busiest in Australia, after Melbourne and Sydney Airports. Brisbane Airport has won many awards. Located in the suburb with the same name, the airport serves the city of Brisbane and the surrounding metropolitan area...
.
History
The airline was formed and started operations in 1964 as Skywest AviationSkywest Airlines
Skywest Airlines Pty Ltd is a regional airline company based in Perth, Western Australia, Australia; servicing key towns in the state of Western Australia, Darwin, Northern Territory and Melbourne, Victoria; as well as charter flights to Bali, Indonesia....
, which acquired East-West Airlines
East-West Airlines (Australia)
East-West Airlines was an Australian regional airline founded in Tamworth, New South Wales in 1947. It operated to major regional city-centres and connected these centres to various provincial capitals. It was purchased from its original founders in a share buy-out by Bryan Grey and Duke Minks...
in 1984 and was itself acquired by Ansett Airlines
Ansett Australia
Ansett Australia, Ansett, Ansett Airlines of Australia, or ANSETT-ANA as it was commonly known in earlier years, was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne. The airlines flew domestically within Australia and to destinations in Asia during its operation in 1996...
in 1987. The company was divided into airline and non-airline operations and the non-airline operations were purchased in 1996 by Paspaley Pearling
Paspaley
Paspaley is the largest pearling company in Australia. It started operations in the 1930s and is based in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It has about 20 farms, situated between Dampier, Western Australia and the Cobourg Peninsula east of Darwin....
(which by that time had been operating aircraft to its pearl farms for over ten years) and renamed. One of the divisions of East-West that was purchased was an operation at Sydney Airport
Sydney Airport
Sydney Airport may refer to:* Sydney Airport, also known as Kingsford Smith International Airport, in Sydney, Australia* Sydney/J.A. Douglas McCurdy Airport, in Nova Scotia, Canada...
, conducting air ambulance flights for the Ambulance Service of New South Wales
Ambulance Service of New South Wales
The Ambulance Service of New South Wales , an agency of the Department of Health of the New South Wales Government, is the main provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in the state of New South Wales, Australia....
. In 2004 Pearl Aviation was awarded a ten-year contract to operate four Beechcraft Super King Air
Beechcraft Super King Air
The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
s configured as air ambulances for the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service, after losing a similar Ambulance Service of New South Wales contract to the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia
Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia
The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is an emergency and primary health care service for those living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia...
the previous year. Pearl Aviation is wholly owned by the Paspaley Pearls Group and has 120 employees (at March 2007).
Paspaley's other aviation companies
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
between Pearl Aviation and Aerodata AG of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, based at Brisbane Airport. It operates under contract to Airservices Australia
Airservices Australia
Airservices Australia is an Australian Government agency, responsible for providing safe and environmentally sound air traffic control management and related airside services to the aviation industry within the Australian Flight Information Region...
; it uses two Beechcraft Super King Air
Beechcraft Super King Air
The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
s to check the network of Australian civil aviation navaids
Radio navigation
Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio frequencies to determine a position on the Earth. Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination.The basic principles are measurements from/to electric beacons, especially...
, and has also performed similar work in various Asian countries.
AeroRescue conducts Search and Rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
flights on behalf of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority
Australian Maritime Safety Authority
Australian Maritime Safety Authority is responsible, on behalf of the Commonwealth Government of Australia, for the regulation and safety oversight of Australia's shipping fleet and management of Australia's international maritime obligations...
(AMSA), using a fleet of five Dornier 328
Dornier 328
|-See also:- References :* Swanborough, Gordon. "Dornier 328: A Daimler for Commuters". Air International, March 1992, Vol. 42 No. 3. pp. 123–128. ISSN 0306-5634....
s and one Beechcraft 200T Super King Air
Beechcraft Super King Air
The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
based around Australia (Perth, Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and Melbourne). AeroRescue was awarded a contract by AMSA to provide aircraft in late 2005, and reached its full complement of aircraft in 2007. These aircraft are equipped with video cameras (FLIR), surface radar scanners and radios to support Search and Rescue operations on land and on sea. All different devices are linked into one single operator workstation called AeroMission which was installed by Aerodata AG between 2005 and 2007 at the Braunschweig Airport
Braunschweig Airport
-See also:* Advanced Landing Ground-External links:*...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Lloyd Aviation Jet Charter, also known as Pearl Air International, operates a fleet of Grumman Turbo Mallard
Grumman Mallard
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Hotson, Fred W. Grumman Mallard: The Enduring Classic. Scarborough, Ontario: Robin Brass Studio, 2006. ISBN 978-1896941448....
s to fly Paspaley employees to the company's pearl farms. The Mallards have been a feature of Paspaley's pearling operations since the early 1980s, and were modified in-house to be powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6
The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is one of the most popular turboprop aircraft engines in history, and is produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. The PT6 family is particularly well known for its extremely high reliability, with MTBO's on the order of 9000 hours in some models. In US military use, they...
turbine engines in place of the original radial engine
Radial engine
The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central crankshaft like the spokes on a wheel...
s. Lloyd Aviation also operates a Dassault Falcon 900C business jet on charter flights.
Pearl Flight Center is a Fixed Base Operator (FBO), providing ground handling services for corporate and private aircraft as well as the company's aircraft, via two facilities at Darwin Airport and a facility at Perth Airport. It also manages the charter operations of Pearl group aircraft.
Fleet
As of December 2009 the Paspaley Group fleet consists of:- 6 Beechcraft 200 Super King AirBeechcraft Super King AirThe Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
(owned by Pearl Aviation; one operated by AeroPearl, one operated on behalf of the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service) - 3 Beechcraft 200C Super King AirBeechcraft Super King AirThe Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
(owned and operated by Pearl Aviation on behalf of the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service) - 1 Beechcraft 200T Super King AirBeechcraft Super King AirThe Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
(leased, operated by Aero Rescue) - 1 Beechcraft B200 Super King AirBeechcraft Super King AirThe Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
(owned and operated by Pearl Aviation) - 1 Beechcraft B300 Super King Air 350Beechcraft Super King AirThe Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series...
(owned by Airservices Australia, operated by AeroPearl) - 1 Cessna 208 CaravanCessna 208The Cessna 208 Caravan is a single turboprop engine, fixed-gear short-haul regional airliner and utility aircraft built in the United States by Cessna. The airplane typically seats nine passengers, with a single person crew, although with a FAR Part 23 waiver, it can seat up to fourteen passengers...
(owned and operated by Paspaley Pearls) - 5 Dornier 328-100 (leased, operated by Aero Rescue)
- 4 Fairchild Metro 23Fairchild Swearingen MetrolinerThe Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner or the Fairchild Aerospace Metro is a 19-seat, pressurised, twin turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild at a plant in San Antonio, Texas, United States....
(owned and operated by Pearl Aviation) - 1 Dassault Falcon 900C (owned by Paspaley Pearls, operated by Lloyd Aviation)
- 3 Grumman G-73AT Turbo MallardGrumman Mallard|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Hotson, Fred W. Grumman Mallard: The Enduring Classic. Scarborough, Ontario: Robin Brass Studio, 2006. ISBN 978-1896941448....
(owned and operated by Paspaley Pearls)