Impulse Airlines

Impulse Airlines was an Australian airline which operated regional and low-cost trunk services between 1992 and 2004. It was acquired by Qantas in 2001 to form the basis of Qantas' new regional airline QantasLink. The airline had its head offices on the grounds of Sydney Airport in Mascot.

History

Establishment

Impulse Airlines was founded by Gerry and Sue McGowan, commencing operations on 18 December 1992 following the acquisition of Port Macquarie based Oxley Airlines.[1] In April 1994, it was rebranded as Impulse Airlines.[2] In May 1994 Impulse purchased Pacific Aviation from Ansett Transport Industries.[3]

Low-cost airline

In June 2000, the airline acquired Boeing 717 jet aircraft and commenced operations as a low-cost airline on Australia's trunk eastern seaboard routes in direct competition with Ansett and Qantas.[4] It had ceased its previous affiliation with Ansett. Services initially operated between Sydney and Melbourne and quickly expanded to include Brisbane, Newcastle and Hobart.[5] Together with Virgin Blue which also commenced services in mid-2000, Impulse Airlines brought upon a substantial restructuring of the Australian airline industry. The new low cost entrants injected competition into the long-lived duopoly between Qantas and Ansett, arguably contributing to the downfall of the latter. The airline gradually began to phase in a bright blue livery with a cockatoo on the tail of its aircraft.

In April 2001, Impulse and Qantas came to an agreement where Impulse would wet lease all its services to Qantas with Qantas to market the routes and give Impulse a cash injection with a further option for Qantas to buy out the company.[6] Qantas exercised its option in November 2001, and Impulse was absorbed into QantasLink.[7][8][9] The introduction of the cockatoo livery did not progress beyond a few aircraft. Both the Boeing 717 and Beech 1900 aircraft were initially utilised in the QantasLink fleet however the Beech 1900s were soon withdrawn from service while the Boeing 717 fleet was expanded.

In April 2003, following a long running investigation by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, Rene Rivkin was found guilty of insider trading after having purchased 50,000 Qantas shares which resulted in a $346,000 profit. He was charged with using confidential and market-sensitive information with regards to an impending merger of Qantas and Impulse Airlines. He bought these shares on behalf of Rivkin Investments on 24 April 2001, just hours after speaking to the executive chairman of Impulse, Gerry McGowan.[10]

The airline was a major sponsor of the Newcastle Knights National Rugby League team.

airline	Impulse Airlines
iata	VQ
icao	IPU OAA
callsign	IMPULSE
parent	Qantas
founded	December 18, 1992
ceased	May 25, 2004
founders	• Gerry McGowan • Sue McGowan
headquarters	Mascot, New South Wales, Australia
frequent flyer	Impulse Freebies
alliance	Oneworld (affiliate; 2001–2004)
website	impulse.com.au

History

Establishment

Low-cost airline

Jetstar

Fleet

External links

References