Tasair

Tasair was established in 1965. It began as an air charter, maintenance, and flying school operation. Scheduled operations commenced on 27 March 1998 on a triangular service from Hobart to Devonport and Burnie, using a Piper PA-31-350 Chieftain and two Aero Commander 500S Shrike Commanders. Four months later operations from Devonport to King Island via Burnie commenced. In May 2010 Burnie was dropped from the structure of regular flights. Tasair's busiest sector was between Devonport and King Island. The company was placed in voluntary liquidation on 3 February 2012.

Services

As of September 2011, Tasair operated scheduled passenger flights to the following destinations:

Hobart

Devonport

King Island

Legal Issues

In December 2009, Tasair was speculated to be involved in charter flights hired by a PR firm for Japan's 'Institute of Cetacean Research' whaling company to spy on anti-whaling vessels, an action later condemned by the Australian Government and deemed illegal under a 2008 Australian Court order preventing any assistance to whaling operations. Tasair has declined to comment on whether its planes or staff were involved in the flights. Managing director George Ashwood says that kind of information is commercial in confidence. The incident caused the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to start a national investigation into companies conducting flights over water. Tasair incurred hefty legal bills dealing with the CASA probe and another by the Environmental Defender's Office that included demands that documents be surrendered. CASA boss John McCormick told the Senate committee Tasair's air operator's certificate covered domestic operations in Australia and it was technically in breach of regulations if it travelled beyond 12 nautical miles but admitted there was confusion within the industry and resulted in no action taken against the air charter operator.