| |||||||
Founded | 1991 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AOC # | CASA.AOC.0028 [2] | ||||||
Hubs | Sydney Cairns Adelaide | ||||||
Focus cities | Adelaide Brisbane Cairns Melbourne Sydney | ||||||
Fleet size | 7 | ||||||
Parent company | ASL Aviation Holdings | ||||||
Headquarters | Bankstown Airport | ||||||
Key people | Steve Ferris, CEO | ||||||
Employees | 150 (2024) | ||||||
Website | www.aslaviationholdings.com |
ASL Airlines Australia, formerly Pionair, is a passenger and cargo airline based at Bankstown Airport in Sydney. It is a subsidiary of ASL Aviation Holdings.
Pionair was founded in 1991 in Queenstown, New Zealand as a sight seeing company with a restored Douglas DC-3. A further two followed. In 1998 Pionair expanded into the Australian market. [3]
In 2003 it purchased a Convair 580. It diversified into fly-in fly-out work with contracts for the Thiess Sedgman joint venture in Queensland and Fortescue Metals Group in Western Australia. Freight operations commenced in 2007 for Toll Priority with a converted passenger Convair 580 with two more purchased in 2008. [3]
Since 2016 AAA has operated cargo aircraft for FedEx / TNT, initially under contract to Virgin Australia and since March 2020 to Qantas Freight. [4] [5]
In April 2023, ASL Aviation Holdings acquired Pionair and rebranded it ASL Airlines Australia. [6] [7]
The Pionair Australia fleet [8] consists of the following aircraft:
Aircraft | In service | On order | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
British Aerospace 146-200 | 2 | — | |
British Aerospace 146-200(QT) | 2 | — | One stored |
British Aerospace 146-300(QT) | 2 | — | |
Boeing 737-800BCF | 1 | — | |
Total | 7 |
The first of two Embraer E190-E2 were delivered in January 2020 for operations on behalf of Air Kiribati, scheduled to start in mid-2020 but the agreement was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the other aircraft not being taken up. One used Embraer E190 had been purchased by Pionair and was delivered in November 2020 for company growth and expansion, however this was later sold to Alliance Airlines to allow the company to focus on the E190-E2. As of March 2024, Pionair also operates seven British Aerospace 146 aircraft, five are freighters and the remaining two are passenger aircraft.
In February 2022, Pionair acquired two surplus Royal Air Force British Aerospace BAe 146 transports, these did not join the Pionair fleet but parted out to support the operational fleet. [9] The airline received a Boeing 737-800BCF in February 2024. [5] [10]
A regional airliner or a feeder liner is a small airliner that is designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' airline hubs from small markets. This class of airliners is typically flown by the regional airlines that are either contracted by or subsidiaries of the larger airlines. Regional airliners are used for short trips between smaller towns or from a larger city to a smaller city. Feeder liner, commuter, and local service are all alternative terms for the same class of flight operations.
The British Aerospace 146 is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Avro International Aerospace manufactured an improved version known as the Avro RJ. Production for the Avro RJ version began in 1992. Later on, a further-improved version with new engines, the Avro RJX, was announced in 1997, but only two prototypes and one production aircraft were built before production ceased in 2001. With 387 aircraft produced, the Avro RJ/BAe 146 is the most successful British civil jet airliner program.
The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast, narrow-body, short- to medium-range, twin-engined jet airliners designed and produced by Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer.
Air Kiribati is the flag carrier of the Republic of Kiribati and operates scheduled passenger services to 20 atolls spread over an area of 3.5 million square kilometres (1,400,000 sq mi).
Alliance Airlines Pty Limited is an Australian airline based at Brisbane Airport in Brisbane, Queensland, with operational bases in Adelaide, Cairns, Perth, Townsville, Darwin, and Rockhampton. Alliance Airlines owns and operates a fleet of Fokker and Embraer jet aircraft: Fokker 70, Fokker 100 and Embraer 190. Alliance runs fly-in fly-out (FIFO) air charter services for the Australian mining and resources industry, as well as private aircraft charters throughout Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and South East Asia. Alliance also provides aircraft component sales and leasing worldwide.
National Jet Express is an Australian charter airline and aviation services provider with its headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.
Les Investissements Nolinor Inc., trading as Nolinor Aviation, is a charter airline based in Mirabel, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It operates passenger charter and cargo services within Canada and to the United States Its main base is Montréal–Mirabel International Airport. It has 200 employees.
Safair is an airline based at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, South Africa. It operates one of the world's largest fleets of civil Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo aircraft.
ASL Airlines Belgium, (ASLB) formerly TNT Airways, is a Belgian cargo airline operating chartered flights mainly to European destinations. It has its head office and hub on the grounds of Liège Airport. The airline used to be a subsidiary of TNT Express but was acquired by ASL Aviation Holdings DAC and subsequently rebranded in 2016. ASL Aviation Holdings DAC, the parent company of ASL Airlines Belgium, is headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland.
Lufthansa CityLine GmbH is a German regional airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Munich Airport. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa and maintains hubs at Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport, from where it operates a dense domestic and European network as a member of Lufthansa Regional.
Durango–La Plata County Airport is a city- and county-owned public airport 12 miles southeast of Durango, in La Plata County, Colorado.
ASL Airlines France (ASL), formerly Europe Airpost, is an airline based in Paris-Charles de Gaulle and operates out of major French airports. The airline operates both cargo and passenger flights with a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft including the 737-300QC, the 737-700, 737-800 passenger aircraft and both the 737-400F and -800BCF. ASLF operates freighter services on behalf of express freight integrators, including FedEx Express, and has been an operator of overnight postal flights for La Poste. The airline also operates charter cargo flights.
Manx Airlines was an English-owned, Isle of Man-based airline that existed between 1982 and 2002. Its head office was located on the grounds of Ronaldsway Airport in Ballasalla, Malew. An airline of the same name existed between 1947 and 1958.
Aspen Airways was an airline carrier and regional affiliate of United Express and based in Hangar 5 in Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado. Aspen ceased operations on April 1, 1990, when separate portions of the airline were acquired by Mesa Airlines and Air Wisconsin Services, Inc.
KF Aerospace is an approved maintenance organization (AMO) which operates two maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities in Canada, one at Kelowna International Airport in British Columbia and the other at Hamilton International Airport in Ontario. It is the parent company of KF Cargo, which provides cargo aircraft charter and leasing services, and KF Defence Programs, contract operator of the Canadian Forces Contracted Flying Training and Support program. KF Aerospace is Kelowna's largest private employer.
British Regional Airlines was a franchise partner of British Airways based in Manchester. They operated a large network of domestic and European services from many UK regional airports.
The Embraer E-Jet E2 family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The twinjet was an incremental development of the original E-Jet family.
Congo Airways S.A. is the state-owned flag carrier airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). With a paid-up capital of US$90 million, it started operations on 20 October 2015.
As of August 2024, the Air Canada fleet consists of 197 mainline passenger aircraft, a mix of Airbus and Boeing narrow-body and wide-body jets.
ASL Aviation Holdings DAC (ASL), formerly the ASL Aviation Group, is an aviation services holding company focused on cargo and passenger airline operations, aircraft leasing and maintenance and aircraft parts support, based in Dublin, Ireland. Today, ASL has eight airlines in Europe, South Africa, Asia and Australia, consisting of ASL Airlines Ireland, ASL Airlines Belgium, ASL Airlines France, ASL Airlines United Kingdom in Europe, ASL Airlines Australia, formally Pionair Australia in Australia and joint venture and associate airlines FlySafair in South Africa, K-Mile Asia in Thailand and Quikjet Airlines in India.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Media related to Pionair Australia at Wikimedia Commons