Past, present and future

Regional aviation sustains community and industry life-blood

It may sound a strange question, but what is regional aviation in the 21st century? A few decades ago it was a relatively easy answer as Navajos, Chieftains and early turboprops plied their trade between the major cities and rural/remote Australia. There were even a considerable number of intra-regional routes. It was a fairly clear picture with small to medium aircraft connecting the bush to the cities – and regional towns to each other.

These days RAAA operators are likely to be using medium to large aircraft to move thousands of high-vis workers between their homes and remote places of employment, often thousands of kilometres away. The traditional routes remain, but they are more interconnected with the domestic trunk routes and the international flight schedules. The intra-regional routes have virtually disappeared. Air freight has grown significantly in importance and is likely to continue to do so.