Pacific Air Express

Pacific Air Express was an airline based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It operated cargo services to Honiara, Nauru, Noumea, Port Moresby and Port Vila; and charter flights in the South Pacific area.^[2][3] Its main bases were Brisbane Airport and Honiara International Airport.^[4][5]

Pacific Air Express

IATA ICAO Call sign PE PAQ SOLPAC[1]
Founded	1993
Ceased operations	2021
Operating bases	Brisbane Airport
Fleet size	0
Headquarters	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Website	www.pacificairexpress.com.au

History

The airline was established in 1993 by Australian expatriate Gary Clifford (Managing Director/CEO) and a business partner from the Solomon Islands. The airline was originally based in Honiara but relocated due to civil unrest in 1999. It had 35 employees as of March 2007.^[4] In 2021 its wet lease agreement with Qantas Freight on the Melbourne to Perth route ended, being replaced with Express Freighters Australia Airbus A321-200P2Fs.

Fleet

In October 2021 the airline's final aircraft (a Boeing 757-200 registered VH-PQA) left Australia.^[6] The airline owns a second Boeing 757-200 (registration N314ST, msn 22211) but it remains in storage in Budapest, having never actually flown to Australia.^[7] The airline appears now to be dormant.

Previously operated

• Beechcraft 200 King Air (1993 - 1994)
• Boeing 737-300QC (1995 - 1996)
• Boeing 727-200F (1996 - 2001)
• Antonov An-12 (2002 - 2005)
• Boeing 727-100C (2005 - 2007)
• Boeing 727-200F (2007 - 2008)
• Boeing 737-300F (2008 - 2016)
• Boeing 757-200PCF (2018 - 2021)^[8]