Private company

Compass Airlines

Logo: The logo may be obtained from the now defunct Compass Airlines ., Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

Low cost airline in Australia, 1990–1993

Compass Airlines operated in Australia for two brief periods in the early 1990s. The two incarnations of the airline were quite separate with different management and aircraft.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1990Founded1

Compass Airlines operated in Australia for two brief periods in the early 1990s. The two incarnations of the airline were quite separate with different management and aircraft.2

The story

Compass I was Australia's first low cost airline. It was established following deregulation of the Australian airline industry in 1990. Previously Ansett and the government-owned Australian Airlines had operated under the Two Airlines Policy, which was in fact a legal barrier to new entrants to the Australian aviation market. It restricted intercapital services to the two major domestic carriers. This anti-competitive arrangement ensured that they carried approximately the same number of passengers, charged the same fares and had similar fleet sizes and equipment.

From Wikipedia’s article on Compass Airlines (Australia), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

Compass Mark I

4 Airbus A300B4-605R

1 Airbus A310-304

Compass Mark II

Read the full text

3 McDonnell Douglas MD-82

2 McDonnell Douglas MD-83

From Wikipedia’s article on Compass Airlines (Australia), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1993Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1990Founded 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