A DHC-6 Twin Otter, hardly the most glamorous aircraft ever built though one that is tailor made for space restricted fields such as Aeropelican's Belmont base. (Julian Green)

Airline Profile- Aeropelican

Aeropelican

Since 1971 Aeropelican has been flying one of the most scenic routes in Australia up and down the central coast of New South Wales.

It has also become one of the most successful high frequency services in the country, and today flies over 84,000 passengers on its30 minute sectors between its home base of Belmont and Sydney.

In 1962 Keith Hilder acquired a 27 acre property at Pelican near Newcastle. In the hope of providing that town’s population with a scheduled air service to Sydney, application was sought from the then Department of Civil Aviation. After a five year delay, he was granted the right to fly the Pelican/Sydney route. Under the regulation 203 (commuter) exemption, many smaller general aviation operators were now able to provide regular scheduled services. However, it was not until 1971 that Aeropelican was granted a full licence, and on June 1 that year, services commenced using a lone Cessna 402.

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