60 Minute Whitsundays Scenic Flight Including Heart Reef

This Whitsundays Scenic Flight has the gold tick as the pick of the bunch. On this incredible 60-minute flight you’ll see the ultimate way to discover the natural beauty of the region and tick off one of Australia’s biggest bucket list experiences.

And the best thing? You are guaranteed a window view, plus there is a maximum of only 13 guests per flight!

The flight combines the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef in one aerial experience. Glide above Long Island, Hayman Island, Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet before heading out over Hardy Reef, Hook Reef and the famous Heart Reef, with expert commentary from an experienced pilot the whole way. Keep an eye out for manta rays, green turtles, dugongs, sharks and seasonal whales (sightings are never guaranteed).

Seeing the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef from the air will leave you with a feeling of awe; the size of this living reef can only truly be understood from above. All Fly Australia pilots live locally and are trained to show you the best highlights of the region, from the islands to the outer reef. Watch the flight video further down the page to see what that means.

Travel light for this one; there are only two things you need:

FlyAus also offers a package that pairs this flight with a Whitsunday boat day tour, called the Sea and Sky Combo (the two experiences cannot be taken on the same day). The boat tour includes a buffet lunch, snorkelling locations and two hours of beach time, including the South Whitehaven Lookout. For more information, see the Sea and Sky Combo page.

The 74 Whitsunday Islands sit inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, off the coast of Airlie Beach in Queensland. White beaches, clear water, coral reefs and an abundance of marine life have made them a jewel in Australia’s tourism crown.

Over the 60 minutes you’ll fly over and discover many of these islands from above, including Daydream Island and its resort, the Molle islands group, Long Island, Dent Island, Hamilton Island and resort, Whitsunday Island with Whitehaven Beach and the Hill Inlet swirling sands, Hook Island, Hayman Island and resort, Haslewood Island, Border Island, plus more smaller islands and fringing reefs.

Whitehaven Beach runs for more than 7 kilometres along the eastern side of Whitsunday Island, the largest island in the group. It is uninhabited and untouched, all crystal clear water and soft white silica sand, and it sits high on most Australian bucket lists.

At the northern end of Whitehaven is Hill Inlet, a sand inlet that reaches almost the whole way across Whitsunday Island. From ground level you only ever see a slice of it; from the air you take in the entire inlet and the swirling patterns the tides carve into the silica sand. A scenic flight is genuinely the only way to see the whole thing.

The flight follows the full length of Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet with two passes, one on each side of the aircraft, so both sides of the plane get the photo through their viewing windows.

Heart Reef is a naturally heart-shaped coral formation just 17 metres wide, tucked into the vast expanse of the Great Barrier Reef about 78km offshore from Airlie Beach. Tiny as it is, it has become one of the most photographed spots in Australia.

Its seclusion is part of the appeal. Heart Reef can only be reached by scenic plane, helicopter or boat (and boats need the tides to line up), sitting 78km from Airlie Beach, 71km from Hamilton Island, 108km from Bowen and 152km from Mackay.

On this 60-minute scenic flight the pilot makes two passes over Heart Reef, one for each side of the aircraft, so everyone gets the chance to take pictures.

The Great Barrier Reef stretches more than 2,300 kilometres along the Queensland coast and is one of the planet’s great natural wonders, a UNESCO World Heritage marine ecosystem so large it is visible from space. It is made up of thousands of individual reefs and hundreds of islands built from over 600 types of hard and soft coral, and the Whitsundays sit right inside it, making Airlie Beach a gateway to both the fringing and outer reef.

The marine park is home to more than 1,500 species of fish, around 200 bird species and roughly 30 species of whales and dolphins, along with endangered dugongs and large green turtles, which is why it remains such an important area for research and conservation.

This scenic flight heads out over the outer Great Barrier Reef, taking in Hardy Reef, Line Reef, Barb Reef and Bait Reef. Sharks, whales (in season) and other large marine life are often spotted from the air, though sightings are never guaranteed.

Yes, pickup and drop-off from two locations in Airlie Beach is included with your flight.

Airlie Beach Main Street: 384 Shute Harbour Road, in front of Travel Shack. The van waits on the main road outside Travel Shack at Waterson Way. Pickup is 40 minutes before your booked flight time, so for an 8am flight you need to be there by 7:20am. Please be on time; the van does not wait, and if you miss it you will need to get to Whitsunday Airport at your own cost.

If you are driving yourself, the airport is only about 5 minutes from Airlie Beach.

Yes. Every seat on every Fly Australia aircraft has a window beside it, so a window view is guaranteed for all passengers.

The map below shows the flight path over the Whitsunday Islands and out to Heart Reef on the Great Barrier Reef.

The flight departs from the Fly Australia terminal at Whitsunday Airport (Shute Harbour Airport), 12 Air Whitsunday Road, Flametree QLD 4802, about 5 minutes’ drive from Airlie Beach. Open 7am to 5pm daily. Phone +61 (02) 8106 0079, email whitsundays@flyaus.com.au.