Compass Airlines was the first attempt to compete against the duopoly of Ansett and Australian Airlines when market deregulation finally came about in November 1990. It was doomed to fail, but did become the only airline operator of VH registered A300-600s – and oddly a single Airbus A310 too.
I have written about Compass previously so for the airline’s full story please see my blogpost from 2018:
Starting operations in December 1990 Compass was ‘forced’ to use large Airbus A300s due to the cosy cartel that controlled the majority of gate space at Australian airports. They were far from ideal and the capacity dump they provided helped fuel a price war Compass could ill afford but not avoid.
As the economy faltered due to the Gulf-War fueled economic downturn the fare war intensified and Compass started crazy discounting. By December it was haemorrhaging money and on December 20th the airline was grounded due to its bankruptcy. The A310’s last service was on December 20th flying Sydney-Melbourne as YM335.
Converted into a freighter and designated as a CC-150 Polaris the aircraft has served with the RCAF, registered as 15003, for nearly 30 years. It remains in service.
Below: Photos of 15003 in the static display taken by myself at RIAT in July 2022
