Sign in

Private company

AirQuarius Aviation

South African airline, 1997–2012

AirQuarius Aviation was an airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa, operating chartered flights and aircraft leasing contracted by companies throughout Africa and Asia. The airline's base was at Lanseria Airport, Johannesburg.2 It was founded in 1999.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1999Founded1

See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards

Airquarius Bae 748 ZS-XGZ (6781652919)
Photo: Bob Adams from George, South Africa, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

AirQuarius Aviation was an airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa, operating chartered flights and aircraft leasing contracted by companies throughout Africa and Asia. The airline's base was at Lanseria Airport, Johannesburg.2

The story

AirQuarius Aviation (Pty) Ltd was established by Gavin Branson in 1997 and started operations in 2001, doing business as AirQuarius Air Charter. The name was changed to Branson Air (Pty) Ltd, doing business as AirQuarius in 2007. At one time, it had 120 employees. The airline specialized in operating flights to political crisis areas. As such, AirQuarius was the only operator into Baghdad or Basra during the Iraq War. Other missions included UN flights into Afghanistan and Sudan.

In 2011, it was alleged that an air operating certificate was awarded to an AirQuarius Charters aircraft on the basis of an inspection form which the inspector said was not written or signed by him.

AirQuarius stopped operating on 7 February 2012.

From Wikipedia’s article on AirQuarius Aviation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

AirQuarius operated Fokker 28, Fokker 100, Hawker Siddeley HS 748 and Boeing 737-200 aircraft.

From Wikipedia’s article on AirQuarius Aviation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. Feb 2012Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1999Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4