Shortstop Jet Charter

Shortstop Jet Charter is a Melbourne aviation company based at Essendon Airport, where it also runs a fixed-base operation. It began in the early 1980s and put its first jet, a Cessna Citation 500, into service in 1984.

The company offers private charter, aircraft management, aviation consulting for buyers of private jets, and FBO services at Essendon. Destinations listed on its website range across Australia and into New Zealand, the Pacific and Bali.

Shortstop is best known for its Douglas DC-3, marketed as 'Melbourne's Gooney Bird'. The website lists it with 28 seats in an airline-style cabin and a range of about 400 nautical miles, and it is used for group charters and flight experiences such as day trips to King Island and evening flights over Melbourne.

Fleet details have changed. In December 2024 ch-aviation reported that Shortstop had retired its only executive jet, a Falcon 900C operated since 2017, leaving it as the registered operator of the DC-3 and an L-39C jet trainer. Flyers wanting a jet should ask which aircraft and operator would be used.

The company is run by its founder and managing director, Mike Falls.