Flight West
Defunct regional airline of Australia
title: "Flight West" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["airlines-established-in-1987", "airlines-disestablished-in-2001", "ansett-australia", "companies-based-in-brisbane", "defunct-airlines-of-australia", "1987-establishments-in-australia", "2001-disestablishments-in-australia"] description: "Defunct regional airline of Australia" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_West" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Defunct regional airline of Australia ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox airline"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| airline | Flight West |
| logo | Flight West Airlines logo.png |
| IATA | YC |
| ICAO | FWQ |
| callsign | UNITY |
| founded | |
| ceased | |
| hubs | Brisbane |
| Cairns | |
| Townsville | |
| headquarters | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| key_people | Dennis Buchanan (founder) |
| website | www.flightwest.com.au |
| :: |
|airline = Flight West |logo = Flight West Airlines logo.png |IATA = YC |ICAO = FWQ |callsign = UNITY |founded = |ceased = |hubs = Brisbane Cairns Townsville |headquarters = Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |key_people = Dennis Buchanan (founder) |website = www.flightwest.com.au}}
Flight West was an Australian regional airline headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland. Established in May 1987, it operated predominantly in Queensland. It entered voluntary administration in June 2001 before being sold to Queensland Aviation Holdings, the parent company of Alliance Airlines in April 2002.
History
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Flight_West_EMB-120.jpg" caption="Embraer EMB 120]] at [[Brisbane Airport]] in December 1999"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Flight_West_Fokker_28_CNS_King.jpg" caption="[[Fokker F28]] at [[Cairns Airport]] in July 2000"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/70cp_-_Flight_West_Airlines_Fokker_100;VH-FWI@SYD;04.09.1999(6116239036).jpg" caption="[[Fokker 100]] at [[Sydney Airport]] in September 1999"] ::
Flight West was established by Dennis Buchanan in 1987 to operate subsidised passenger services to remote communities on Government of Queensland contracts.
Initially the airline used Beechcraft Super King Air aircraft on these services from a base at Brisbane Airport and then quickly expanded, adding DHC-6 Twin Otters an EMB 110, Jetstream 32s and then ex Ansett Fokker F28s to initially operate the Brisbane to Norfolk Island service later purchasing two Fokker 100s. A second base was established at Cairns Airport. It was soon operating the most extensive network of routes throughout regional Queensland.
From bases in Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville it served major cities and small regional communities throughout the state including communities on Cape York Peninsula and in the Torres Strait, major coastal cities and islands, and cities and towns in western Queensland.
The airline was affiliated with (but independent of) Ansett which ceased operations on 14 September 2001. Before entering liquidation in June 2001, Flight West serviced 34 destinations and employed over 420 staff.
Collapse
On 16 June 2001, the airline was placed into voluntary administration with PwC appointed to manage the company. Ansett announced on 27 June that it would lease eight of the company's aircraft and restart 16 routes effective immediately. 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 Federal Government announced on 6 November that it would underwrite the airline's operating costs for three months. The airline began flights between Brisbane and Gladstone on 17 November 2001. After the airline failed to sell, it was placed into voluntary administration on 4 December 2001.
In April 2002, Queensland Aviation Holdings purchased Flight West and intended to restructure the company under a new name, Alliance Airlines. Two Embraer EMB 120s and two Fokker 100s were included in the sale.
Fleet
In the mid 1990s, the fleet was composed of Beechcraft King Airs, DHC-6 Twin Otters, de Havilland Canada Dash 8s, Embraer EMB 110s and EMB 120s. By the late 1990s the airline had disposed of the Twin Otters and EMB 110s. It acquired Jetstream J32s and jet aircraft in the form of three ex-Ansett Fokker F28s followed shortly after by two newer Fokker 100s.
At the suspension of services, Flight West operated a fleet of 16 jet and turboprop aircraft: ::data[format=table]
| Aircraft | In fleet | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jetstream 32ER | 4 | |
| Embraer 120ER Brasilia | 7 | |
| Fokker F28-4000 | 3 | |
| Fokker 100 | 2 | |
| :: |
Destinations
Flight West operated 34 routes at the time its services were suspended.
Over the airline's 14-year history, it operated to destinations in Queensland, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Norfolk Island including:
- Bamaga
- Barcaldine
- Bedourie
- Birdsville
- Blackwater
- Boulia
- Brisbane
- Bundaberg
- Cairns
- Charleville
- Coen
- Cooktown
- Doomadgee
- Edward River
- Emerald
- Gladstone
- Hervey Bay
- Hughenden
- Julia Creek
- Kurumba
- Kowanyama
- Lockhart River
- Longreach
- Mackay
- Moree
- Mornington Island
- Mount Isa
- Normanton
- Norfolk Island
- Proserpine
- Quilpie
- Richmond,
- Rockhampton
- Roma
- Sydney
- Thursday Island
- Townsville
- Weipa
- Windorah
- Winton}}
References
References
- Major Airline Directory ''[[Australian Aviation]]'' issue 150 May 199 page 53
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20010603114339/http://www.flightwest.com.au/about.html About Flight West Airlines] Flight West
- Flight West Falls ''Australian Aviation'' issue 175 August 2001 pages 39/40
- (27 June 2001). "Ansett to fly west". [[Daily Telegraph (Sydney).
- Flight West Airlines ''Australian Aviation'' issue 176 September 2001 page 67
- Flight West looks for a buyer ''Australian Aviation'' issue 178 November 2001 page 22
- (29 September 2001). "Airline for sale". [[The Post (New Zealand newspaper).
- (6 November 2001). "Bail-out for state airline". [[The Courier-Mail]].
- Flight West to Gladstone ''Australian Aviation'' issue 179 December 2001 page 20
- (4 December 2001). "Flight West Lands in Voluntary Administration". [[The Australian]].
- Flight West Sold ''Australian Aviation'' issue 183 May 2002 page 5
- Alliance Airlines takes off ''Australian Aviation'' issue 187 September 2002 page 15
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20010603115756/http://www.flightwest.com.au/fleet.html Flight West Fleet of Aircraft] Flight West
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20010603122109/http://www.flightwest.com.au/route.html Flight West Routes] Flight West June 2001
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