Sydney Seaplanes - Australia Airlines

SydneyÌs most experienced seaplane personnel have teamed up to offer Sydney a seaplane company of truly exceptional quality Ò Sydney Seaplanes Pty Ltd.

Pilots Rob Britten, Hugh Robertson, Gary Fenelon, Jeff Dunaway and Andy Gross are among AustraliaÌs most skilled seaplane pilots. Each have significant experience flying seaplanes and between them have amassed over 40,000 hours flying time, indeed Chief Pilot Rob has had the great pleasure of flying seaplanes from Sydney Harbour for over 15 years. All pilots offer our passengers an unrivalled level of expertise, local knowledge and peace of mind.

Sales and Marketing Manager Maureen Fitzgerald also has a wealth of experience with seaplanes in Sydney. Known as ÎMs. SeaplanesÌ in the international tourism and travel industry, she has built up a great many friends and contacts in this sector and is highly respected for her knowledge and integrity. MaureenÌs mission has been to develop and promote with complete confidence the most professional seaplane company in Australia. All great things take time, yet with Sydney SeaplanesÌ ingredients of outstanding equipment, personnel and backing Maureen believes she has achieved this goal. Maureen is always on the lookout for developing new and exciting products, often together with compatible high quality local partners.

Assisting Maureen is Sales and Marketing Executive Laura Connolly. Laura is passionate about the travel and tourism industry and relishes the opportunity of playing an intergral role in an iconic Sydney experience. Laura's primary focus is the corporate and hotel sector.

Looking after the Japanese sector is Keiko Shiraishi. Keiko is a great point of contact for our Japanese customers and is on hand 24/7 to answer any queries first hand. She also looks after all contracting with a variety of Japanese tour companies.

Reservations and check-in is handled by Matthew Starrett. A tourism graduate from Southern Cross University Matthew is highly motivated to ensure our passengers have a great day out with us, and is a very popular member of the team.

Our water taxi is driven by coxswain Andre Uljee. Andre also assists with check in and dispatching aircraft. Andre comes from a background of working on superyachts in the Mediterranean and loves the opportunity of showcasing Sydney Harbour to our guests on the journey from Circular Quay or Darling Harbour to Rose Bay.

Aaron Shaw is Managing Director and co-owner of Sydney Seaplanes and comes from an airline and tourism background. He has a broad experience in this sector, having worked both as a pilot but also has a number of years experience managing commercial offices for a variety of large international airlines in Asia. He brings this wide understanding and experience of the industry, plus the high standards of customer satisfaction and safety ethic to Sydney Seaplanes.

We currently own and operate 3 De Havilland Beaver, 1 Cessna Caravan 208 and 1 Cessna 206 aircraft, all aviation classics. As safety is our highest priority we ensure our aircraft are maintained to the absolute strictest of standards. The majority of our charter work at the moment is conducted on our very popular fly/dine packages to sensational destinations in the Hawkesbury River & Palm Beach areas. Restaurants such as the Cottage Point Inn, Berowra Waters or Jonahs Palm Beach are always a hit, and offer world class service, cuisine and location. We also operate scenic flights from Rose Bay in and around Sydney Harbour and Beaches. On the 12th of June 2007 we launched our new service to the Hunter Valley wine region utilising the brand new state of the art amphibious Cessna Caravan.

With the introduction of scheduled flights between Sydney Harbour and Newcastle Harbour in June 2008 Sydney Seaplanes became AustraliaÌs newest operator to hold a CASA issued Regular Public Transport Air OperatorÌs Certificate, putting us alongside the likes of Qantas, Virgin Blue and Jetstar in terms of regulatory compliance.

We have a wide variety of customers, both Sydneysiders and international guests as we are heavily featured in many international travel brochures as an iconic Sydney experience. We greatly enjoy serving this diverse client base, and particularly relish the opportunity of meeting some of our more famous guests such as US Vice Presidents and numerous Hollywood movie stars.

In November 2007 Sydney Seaplanes was proud to accept the award for best tour and transport operator at the New South Wales Tourism Awards, followed by receiving the lauded Australian Newspaper Tourism Awards for the most innovative tourism experience in Australia for 2007.

We're very honoured to support a number of Australian charities which have included the Bone Marrow Donor Institute, Herbie Hass Memorial Golf Day (Motor Neuron Disease), Redkite (children's cancer fund), Royal Flying Doctor Service, The Heart Foundation, the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Children's Cancer Institute of Australia.