Ex Sydney Seaplanes CEO debuts Alt Air

By Andrew Curran.

The former CEO of Sydney Seaplanes has debuted a new advanced air mobility company called Alt Air. Announcing the launch on his social media platforms yesterday, February 11, Aaron Shaw said Alt Air would offer practical, scalable air mobility services to Australia and the wider region.

Shaw is best known as a founding shareholder and the former CEO of Sydney Seaplanes, a tourism and charter business that has also attempted to operate regular scheduled passenger transport flights using amphibious Cessna Caravans and de Havilland DHC-2 Beavers.

Alt Air has been on the drawing board for some time. Around 18 months ago, he told me in a sit-down interview for another publication that Alt Air would handle future scheduled passenger services, including to (potentially) Western Sydney Airport (WSI) when it opened, while Sydney Seaplanes would continue to focus on the tourism and charter business.

Several months later, high-profile Sydney-based hotelier and property developer, Jerry Schwartz acquired Sydney Seaplanes from Shaw and his business partner, Ken Gaunt. The buyout was amicable, and the deal allowed Shaw to continue developing Alt Air.

Alt Air’s initial focus will be Sydney Harbour and Palm Beach

According to Shaw, Alt Air intends to begin flying using existing, certified aircraft relying on existing (now Jerry Schwartz-owned) aviation infrastructure assets on Sydney Harbour and at Palm Beach.

“Our strategy is to commence services using existing, certified aircraft and progressively supplement and replace those services with next-generation aircraft as they become certified and commercially available,” said Shaw.

This week's social media posts did not specify any start dates or initial routes. It is also unclear whether Alt Air will operate under its own air operator certificate. Currently, Civil Aviation Safety Authority records show that no AOC has been issued to Alt Air.

Shaw says Alt Air’s initial areas of focus will include Sydney and surrounding regions. “Our harbour suburbs and northern beaches infrastructure sits within a catchment generating 1.6 million passenger journeys per month from the top five inner-regional New South Wales locations,” he said.

Additionally, he said Southeast Queensland was a region well suited to both urban and regional air mobility, while Auckland offers strong opportunities for tourism flights and premium transfers, including services such as Auckland Airport (AKL) to Waiheke Island.

“Australia is emerging as a front-runner in advanced air mobility, with governments actively engaged and supportive of the sector,” Shaw says.

“Regulatory frameworks are already being developed to enable safe, efficient deployment of advanced air mobility services, creating a strong environment to launch, learn and scale. Alt Air is positioned to move early, responsibly and commercially within this evolving landscape."

Patchy history of regular passenger transport amphibious flights

Sydney Seaplanes has attempted to operate Newcastle Harbour – Sydney Harbour and Lake Burley Griffin (Canberra) – Sydney Harbour scheduled passenger services. Regulatory approvals were obtained, but practical day-to-day challenges, such as relying on VFR in Sydney Harbour ultimately thwarted those flights.

Shaw says commuters require reliability and until he could use IFR in adverse weather conditions and shore up those reliability concerns, scheduled passenger services would struggle.

More optimistically, at the time of the interview, Shaw said Sydney Seaplanes were mere months away from applying to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority for IFR approval.

His blue sky plan was to operate shuttle services between points on Sydney Harbour and Pittwater to the soon-to-open Western Sydney Airport, replicating a model used by Blade to link Monaco with nearby Nice Airport (NCE), and allowing participating airlines to sell through tickets from say, Rose Bay (on Sydney Harbour and only 10 minutes by ferry or car from downtown Sydney) to London Heathrow (LHR).

Shaw called those flights “the big game.” But so far, neither Shaw, Western Sydney Airport, or any airline has announced such an arrangement.

CEO says he has the experience to get Alt Air off the ground

This week’s announcement also did not provide details of operating aircraft. A Cessna Caravan used in a promotional video on the Alt Air website clearly displays an Australian registration that is not currently valid. However, Shaw is also a director of Dovetail Electric Aviation, a business that converts legacy aircraft into electric using batteries and range extension technologies. Sydney Seaplanes had also placed a large order with eVTOL manufacturer EVE and ponied up a deposit.

"Alt Air builds on nearly two decades of real-world urban aviation experience,” Shaw said. “That experience is supported by our unique aviation infrastructure assets in Sydney… each with significant aviation approvals already in place. These existing approvals provide a strong foundation for the transition to advanced air mobility aircraft, including eVTOL and eCTOL platforms.”

“Beyond Australia, we’ve supported the setup, feasibility and operational procedures for amphibious airlines around the world, giving us a deep understanding of how to launch, scale and operate aviation services across diverse regulatory and operating environments.”

Photo: AI-Generated.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com