Skytraders

Skytraders has been engaged in Antarctic aviation since 1999 when it first responded to a call by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) for registration of interest in the design and construction of an airlink for Antarctica.

Skytraders is now widely viewed as the world leader in cold climate aviation technology. Amongst its achievements are:

• Pioneered the first flights to the Antarctic by any civilian airliner;
• First ever landing of an intercontinental twin engine civilian airliner on a blue-ice runway;
• Introduced the first regular civilian airline operation into remote Eastern Antarctica;
• First Supplementary Type Certification of a Transport Category aircraft on snow skis;
• Designed and engineered a state of the art retractable skis system to permit take-offs from wheeled runways to a landing on snow or vice versa; and
• Earliest winter medical evacuation from Eastern Antarctica.

In 2023, Skytraders celebrated its 16th year of providing the Antarctic Airlink using an Airbus 319CJ for the AAD. The Airlink capability has expanded to provide air-transport services for the wider Antarctic community including the American, New Zealand, Chinese, Norwegian, French, Italian, Korean and Indian National Antarctic Programs.