History
Skytraders is a wholly Australian owned company which was founded in 1979. During the course of the ensuing 30 years it has been the recipient of numerous awards marking its achievements in the Aviation industry and has been a clear leader across a wide range of innovative activity.
From the mid eighties through mid nineties the company was the largest exporter of airfreight from Australia to Japan and the systems which it designed and operated enabled Australia to become the principal supplier of fresh chilled beef to the world’s largest import market. Skytraders contribution to the nation’s exports was recognised in 1990 by the Commonwealth Government’s award of the Austrade Gold Medal. The shipping pack which the company designed and patented was recognized to be of such importance to Australia’s eventual dominance of the Japan market that one is now exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
Skytraders principal focus during its first 20 years was that of air-freight. It developed markets in the United Arab Emirates for Halal killed fresh West- Australian lamb and then proceeded to do the same in Saudi-Arabia and Kuwait for both lamb and high-quality stone fruits. The company has a vast depth of experience in the Middle-East having operated many hundreds of aircraft charters from Australia to that region.
In addition to operating its own aircraft, Skytraders has for many years acted as a broker and GSA (General Sales Agent) for a wide range of other carriers. In order to service this specialist need the company developed a ‘remote-field ‘division targeted at the resource and outsize markets. This area can provide aircraft such as the AN124, L100-30, IL76 and L188 along with the company’s own C212-400s and Airbus A319LR.
Skytraders was the first Australian operator since Qantas to be granted international scheduled service rights when then Transport Minister Kim Beazley approved its weekly operation of a CL44 aircraft on a rotation from Singapore to Perth, Brunei and Jakarta. The company used this operation to develop a niche outsize freight capability in support of the West-Australian resource industry, feeding traffic from Europe to Singapore on B747 freighters for on-carriage to Perth on the swing-tail CL44. Perishable goods were then back-loaded from Perth to Brunei in order to boost sector revenues and develop new export markets for Australian growers.
The company has a depth of experience in the carriage of sensitive and dangerous goods both to and from Australia and internationally. For several years it flew large volumes of fuses used in the manufacture of mortar-bombs from Taipei in Taiwan to Vienna in Austria for the Austrian government owned munitions manufacturer Hirtenberger AG. The chartered aircraft involved in these operations were of-course required to undergo the special landing, handling and over-flight procedures associated with shipments of this kind. Along with this specialist long-term contract the company has operated many similar single entity charters and has a number of staff qualified to process Dangerous Goods shipments.
Whilst Skytraders deliberately retains a low profile in the Australian domestic market due to its adopted position as a provider of air services to resellers it is a well known and respected company in the aviation markets of United States. Europe, Asia and the Middle-East. It has operated some thousands of charter flights throughout the globe transporting cargoes as diverse as outsize drill rigs, military equipment, ostriches or even entire circuses.
*Photo Taken By Richard Vandervord