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OUR STORY

Skytraders undertakes complex missions that demand operational certainty, engineering capability, and the highest standards in flight procedures

We provide the safest and most seamless aviation services in the most effective way possible. With one of the broadest ranges of technical approvals issued by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority and ISO 9001 & 45001 accreditation, we are uniquely equipped to meet the critical and dynamic needs of government. We respond to our clients’ needs rapidly with a 24 hour on-call operations centre, the ability to self-approve routes and 180 Minute Extended Diversion Time Operations.

1979

Skytraders founded

1980s

Skytraders develops the first routes connecting Australia to the Middle East to export fresh produce such as halal-killed lamb and stone fruit

1980s

Skytraders pioneers the movement of chilled beef by air from Australia and is Australia’s largest shipper of export airfreight to Japan

1990

Skytraders awarded the Austrade Gold Medal

1990s

Skytraders commences a nightly service between Sydney and Auckland moving thoroughbred bloodstock

2001

Skytraders is chosen to design and construct an Air Transport System for Antarctica

2004

Skytraders develops, certifies, and builds the first retractable ski system for a transport category aircraft in 40 years

2006

Skytraders begins the international Airlink connecting Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to remote Eastern Antarctica

2010

Skytraders commences operations for Australian Border Force

2012

Skytraders completes the earliest winter medical evacuation from Antarctica on behalf of the US Antarctic Program

2013

Skytraders begins operations for Special Operations Command and develops and certifies the first bundle drop support system in Australia

2018

Skytraders is chosen to establish and operate Victoria Police’s new generation fixed-wing surveillance capability

INNOVATION

Our history is founded on the ongoing search for prescriptive solutions to specialist aviation problems.

AUSTRADE GOLD MEDAL AWARD

Our ‘Skybox’ shipping pack was so crucial to Australia’s emerging dominance of the Japanese market that we were recognised in 1990 by the Commonwealth Government’s award of the Austrade Gold Medal. A Skybox is now held at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

AIRBUS AWARD

Charles Campion, Airbus EVP Customer Services with Antonie Viellard, Airbus VP A320 Family presented Skytraders with Airbus Awards for: pioneering the first flights to the Antarctic by any airliner; the first landing on an ice-runway by any Airbus aircraft; and the first Airbus Corporate Jetliner operations on the continent.

MEDICAL EVACUATION

Environment Minister of the time, Tony Burke, commended the combined effort of Skytraders and the Australian Antarctic Division in repatriating an expeditioner from America’s Antarctic base. This was the earliest ever winter medical evacuation from Eastern Antarctica.

RETRACTABLE SKIS ON A FAR25 TRANSPORT CATEGORY AIRCRAFT

We developed, certified and built a retractable ski system for the CASA 212 which resulted in the first transport category aircraft to be put on skis in 40 years. This innovative ski design allows takeoffs from wheeled runways to a landing on snow, or vice versa. We subsequently received the first ever Supplementary Type Certification for a snow ski to be fitted to a FAR25 Transport Category Aircraft.

CUSTOMISED BUNDLE DROP SUPPORT SYSTEM

First in Australia to develop and certify a customised bundle drop support system for the Australian Defence Force.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORD

On 11 July 2010, we flew within the umbral shadow of a total solar eclipse for 9 minutes and 23 seconds. The flight was organised with Eric Brown, the most decorated pilot in the history of the Royal Navy, and astronomer Glenn Schneider. It carried 36 passengers and 7 crew members to view totality over the Pacific Ocean, 1,500 miles east of Tahiti, at an altitude of 39,000 feet.

In the media

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OUR STORY

Skytraders undertakes complex missions that demand operational certainty, engineering capability, and the highest standards in flight procedures

1979

1980s

1980s

1990

1990s

2001

2004

2006

2010

2012

2013

2018

INNOVATION

AUSTRADE GOLD MEDAL AWARD

AIRBUS AWARD

MEDICAL EVACUATION

RETRACTABLE SKIS ON A FAR25 TRANSPORT CATEGORY AIRCRAFT

CUSTOMISED BUNDLE DROP SUPPORT SYSTEM

GUINNESS WORLD RECORD

In the media

The first passenger flight to Antarctica

The campaign plane – Prime Minister Julia Gillard

Australian Aviation

Bird’s eye view

Fast 42 Airbus Technical Magazine

Australian Antarctic Program – A Day in Antarctica