Par avion of tasmania expanding to mainland

[AIRTAM]

Airline all ready to take off in Griffith
By JACK MORPHET
Feb. 14, 2014,

TASMANIAN airline Par Avion touched down in Griffith on Wednesday to prove the city is well and truly on its radar.
The airline's management is hoping to commence regular flights between Griffith and Melbourne next month, once the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) gives the all-clear.
The maiden flight was 45 minutes late but managing director Shannon Wells said smoke haze from the Victorian bushfires was to blame and it was not a sign of things to come.
"The initial investment is close to $1 million, because we'll be basing close to $800,000 worth of aircraft and a pilot in Griffith and assumedly we'll be underwriting some of the initial flights while we get established," Mr Wells said.
"CASA has told us mid-March is when they'll get back to us about an approval and until then we have to be careful about advertising I'm not a fan of taking people's money before I have a licence.
"But we are essentially just adding another port to our existing services so I can only assume we will meet all the criteria as we have done several times before.
"The flight into Griffith was really smooth and there was barely a puff of cloud a nice and uneventful flight which is just what we like."
Wednesday's proofing flight gave pilots a chance to discuss the nuances of the route including navigational quirks and any obstacles which may arise in the future.
The pilot who intends to move to Griffith, Peter Lovett, said he had already been looking into local rental properties.
"All things going to plan I will be moving here in early March and I have already been looking on the internet for places, but I've worked out you have to snap them up quickly," Mr Lovett said.
"From the first flight we have already worked out the only difficulty is coming in and out of the congested Melbourne air space, but other than that it's a straight line between Griffith and Essendon."
Deputy mayor Doug Curran looked forward to a boost in the local economy but issued a warning to locals who had championed the cause.
"A lot of Griffith businesses have major dealings with Melbourne and this new route will stop people who maybe previously said getting to Griffith was too hard from going to Wagga or Dubbo instead," Cr Curran said.
"This is something the community through many forums has told us emphatically they want so hopefully the community supports it because if they don't, they won't have anyone to blame but themselves."
The airline management has not yet determined whether they would begin with two flights three times per week or one flight five days per week but any further increases would depend on demand.
Par Avion staff installed computer equipment and training the current ground handlers during their time in Griffith.

[Jenna Talia]

What aircraft type will they be using? Their website does not provide much info:confused:

[wishiwasupthere]

Titan.

....

[underfire]

Was this article translated to English?

Aside from that, ""The initial investment is close to $1 million, because we'll be basing close to $800,000 worth of aircraft and a pilot in Griffith and assumedly we'll be underwriting some of the initial flights while we get established," Mr Wells said."

An 'airline' with close to $800K worth of aircraft(????) and 'A" pilot. :eek:

[falconx]

4 titans a couple of months ago

[underfire]

Not familiar with Titan as a commercial, but there are Titan ultralites...

When you guys are saying Titans, are you joking, or is there another ac named titan?

[Australopithecus]

In Australia and likely the UK and NZ aircraft are sometimes known by their uncommon names rather than model numbers. Titan= Cessna 402.
KittyHawk = P-40 for example.

[Capt Fathom]

When you guys are saying Titans, are you joking, or is there another ac named titan?
You are joking aren't you?
:ugh:

[Tankengine]

Titan = Cessna 404.

[dhavillandpilot]

RPT in a Titan C404!!!!!!!!!!:ugh:

I can remember Eastern Australian Airlines using them on the Bathurst Orange Tamworth runs. Great load carrier but like most GA aircraft in Australia big problems.

Just how is the Titan suppose to be able to maintain a regular service Griffith Melbourne without full de icing. Lowest safe is somewhere around 6000 feet and winters are mean down south.

That is why Eastern eventually bought Banderaintes.

[Jack Ranga]

Naysayers! laugh out loud!

[Stationair8]

Wasn't Griffiths - Melbourne a Kendalls run in the Heron in the late 1970's?

[normanton]

I'm sure Plovett will jump in soon and give us some more info :ok:

[lamax]

Kendell operated Navajo, Aero Commander, Heron and Metro for around 7 years on Melbourne - Griffith route. Always a marginal proposition, but especially after the drug trade was cleaned up in Griffith and less cash became evident around the town.

[Fantome]

hard to imagine the move to Griffith as being entirely speculative

if there were not a good prospect of a quid in it, from whatever source,
there'd be no move into the place

the owner of PA (Mk2) has always been primarily interested
in what is good for him

in addition to that, he has always been outstanding at creating dissension

maybe the sons will command a more likeable ship

('likeable' chosen with due diplomacy)

[Aye Ess]

For you youngens who don't know what a Titan is. Here is my painting of a Cessna 404 Titan. Air Queensland operated two of these aircraft out of Brisbane on RPT services to smaller regional centres in the 1980s

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/titan.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/alan_spears/media/titan.jpg.html)

[bankrunner]

The Griffth-Melbourne route has come and gone at least twice with Rex, once in 2007 and again in 2012.

Each time they put a Saab on it for a while after some whining from the local council and got rid of it shortly after, presumably because it failed to make any money.

Since then, the Griffith council has been in talks with a couple of operators regarding getting that route up and running again. First it was with old mate and his imaginary Beech 1900s, then Brindabella, and then third time lucky with the previous "unnamed" Tasmanian airline.

[Toruk Macto]

Is that VH-BPO . Flew her . Thought it stood for Bush Pilots .

[Aye Ess]

Correct Toruk. Bush Pilot Airways changed name to Air Queensland in 1982. Many of the fleet retained the BP regos.

[Southern handler]

Didn't Southern operate them on MQL - BHQ and to Renmark and also for the Air Ambulance contract?

[VH-Cheer Up]

For you youngens who don't know what a Titan is. Here is my painting of a Cessna 404 Titan.

OMG. Look at that climb angle. Must be photoshopped!

[Normasars]

Southern Handler,

Southern had them based in MIA and EN, both in RPT and Aerial Work on the Air Ambulance. I still hear LAD quite regularly around the traps doing survey work. Christ it must 30000hrs plus on it by now.

[Cessna 180]

LAD and LAM still both going strong, beutiful ships.

In fact LAM is supporting a nice new paint scheme!

Aye Ess, that is an amazing painting:)

Feel sorry for folks who never got to fly a mighty Titan!

[Horatio Leafblower]

Feel sorry for folks who never got to fly a mighty Titan!

...most readily identified by their belief that the Chieftain is a good aeroplane! :(

[Cessna 180]

...most readily identified by their belief that the Chieftain is a good aeroplane! :(

Yes, I have met a few of those confused individuals.

Fortunately have managed to avoid the displeasure of spending too much time in one:p so far!

[Aye Ess]

Thanks Cessna 180. Back a generation ago the C404 was a very sleek and modern aircraft. I found another painting I did of Air South Regional's C404.

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a401/alan_spears/C404VH-SKCjpeg_zps1427ea5d.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/alan_spears/media/C404VH-SKCjpeg_zps1427ea5d.jpg.html)

[Cessna 180]

Another great painting, Aye Ess:ok:

[fritzandsauce]

Flights start 17 March. 2x daily returns every M W F.

CASA gives all clear for new Melbourne route | The Area News (http://www.areanews.com.au/story/2119439/casa-gives-all-clear-for-new-melbourne-route/?cs=670)

[pithblot]

That paintings a beauty!

404s were, are still, a great aeroplane. They look like the were built to fly for ever. I wonder how many times VH-HMA has been around the block? It used to be a Bushies machine. Her Majesties' Aircraft has been flogging around The Top End for years, and is still flying regularly. IIRC it was once BPM and did two wheels up landings in DN when Air North had it. After the second rebuild it was a very sweet aeroplane - must have a heap of hours on the airframe now.

[tasdevil.f27]

Airline of Tas (Par Avion) have been running 404's for a very long time, around Tasmania and through to Essendon prior to Sharp taking over the route. WZM & CCN are both fitted with de ice boots.

Both aircraft haven't seen a lot of work, mainly the Launy - Cape Barren run a couple of times a week. Good luck to them, as others have tried and failed.

[Waghi Warrior]

Who's the company advertising for Beech 1900 crews to based at EN?

[oicur12.again]

I must be getting old.

VH-HMA was a Cheyenne II back in the old YMEN days.

[BPA]

Waghi,

My guess is it's Connectjet.

Connect Jet - Who is Connect Jet? (http://connectjet.com.au/who-is-connect-jet.html)

[Duck Pilot]

Wasn't VH-HMA the Cheyenne that was torched (or blown up) somewhere if my memory serves me correctly? Would have been about 20 years ago I recon now.

[falconx]

I think you will find the B190 ad you are referring to is "Free Spirit Airlines". Google the email and all shall reveal

[Alice Kiwican]

Slight thread drift! There was a Cheyenne 2 that operated out of YMEN in the early to mid 80's VH-TNZ. I'm not sure what it was re registered as but it was allegedly blown up in a YMMB hangar I think. Nice machine it was too!:{

[TBM-Legend]

Since Trimbole moved out of Griffith not much traffic to ML...:E

[swells]

I can deny that rumour here and now

Shannon Wells

[swells]

We've made a committment to the service for a number of months and we will see how it goes - the numbers I'm happy with one month in

Anywho I'm not going to debate this on pprune, I'm just reiterating we aren't looking at withdrawing services and I'm quite comfortable with the passenger numbers so far

[Stationair8]

Noticed that the C404 coming of YMEN first thing of a morning, a rejig of the schedule?

Still basing crews in Griffith?

[onehitwonder]

Yes & yes................

[onehitwonder]

Interesting to hear Airlines of Tas running to Griffith and Free Spirit to Burnie - shouldn't it be the other way round?

[Eastwest Loco]

I believe Air Queensland was a later incarnation of Bushies and the rego on the aeroplane in the pic does appear to be BPO.

Tas to GFF?

Let's revert to the Castle.

Tell 'em they're dreaming Son.

Might as well do a Launnie to Useless Loop non stop daily.

swells - I do hope it works for you though. Local communities here on the rock in the Southern Ocean can be initially supportive and then evaporate when they find a way to save $10 and ignore the $250 rental car bill.

Hard environment to put trust in.

Best all

EWL

[swells]

Cheers EWL

Over 6 months into Essendon - Griffith and numbers aren't too bad so we will be hanging around a bit longer I reckon

Best of luck to free spirit, the guys at Wynyard are a good bunch and will provide great support - braver than I am to take on an established carrier as their first route

[Stationair8]

Are they still running Essendon - Griffith?

[4forward8back]

Media Release - Withdrawal of Essendon - Griffith Services
Par Avion airlines has announced today that it will stop operating its airline service from Melbourne/Essendon to Griffith, effective late January.
The Melbourne-Griffith service, which flew up to six times a week, would have marked its 2-year anniversary on March 17, 2016. Par Avion Managing Director Shannon Wells said a strategic review was undertaken of the route, including a customer survey, to see how and if the route could continue in 2016.
“While our survey achieved an overall satisfaction of 98% rate from customers with the airline, it was noticeable that from August 2015 onwards there was a significant decline in passenger numbers from the previous year, for some periods as high as 25%,” Mr Wells explained.
“We looked into flying to additional destinations such as Narrandera or Deniliquin to make the service viable. However there had been significant passenger number decline, the inability to make revenue targets, and ongoing pressures associated with running a regular public transport service into a regional location, all of which meant we could no longer afford to carry a loss-making route,” Mr Wells added.
Mr Wells said customers impacted by the changes will be provided with full refunds. Par Avion will also retain Griffith on its Licence, which would make a start-up process much easier in the future should the business case look brighter at a later stage.
“I greatly wish to acknowledge the support of Griffith City Council, Let’s Travel and Cruise Griffith, Essendon Airport, and the Griffith community for its support of the airline. Without this support the service would never have commenced nor lasted as long as it did. We are saddened that we were unable to make it work in the long term,” he said.
Griffith Mayor John Dal Broi said he was disappointed to farewell Par Avion, which had brought a valuable and needed service to the region since 2014.
“Griffith City Council has truly enjoyed the partnership and working with Par Avion and Managing Director Shannon Wells and we were thrilled to have welcomed them following the withdrawal from the route by REX Airlines in June 2012,” Mayor Dal Broi said.
"Mr Wells has given the service his best shot but it has not worked for them, which is particularly unfortunate at this time when our city’s economy continues to show strong signs of recovery. Additionally, Council has not charged Par Avion landing fees as an incentive to get the service up and running again, however, the airline was not able to generate sufficient sales to make the route financially sustainable," Mayor Dal Broi said.

Nope :{

10 characters

[onehitwonder]

Cape Barren also gone to tender.....

[Stationair8]

That's a shame, at least they gave it a go.


What are they doing with the 2 Titans that were on the run?


Is Captain PLovett still with them?

[Stationair8]

Does anyone know if Airlines of Tas, are still operating any Titans.

[Piltdown Man]

Par Avion & Wells - These are names from my past (1991-2). I spent near enough one year working for this mob. I earned my first ever income from flying with these people. Most of my time was spend bush flying but I also did paper runs when Launie's Commander threw in the towel and the occasional instructing detail. It was great fun and I'll never, ever forget the Wilderness.

I wish them all the very best.

PM

[swells]

Stationair - yes they are still around but sitting at Cambridge at the moment not doing much flying

Shannon