Sir RanaId Dennis Buchanan KBE (1932–2001) was the owner of several airlines in Oceania, most notably Talair in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
In early 1942, he and Lilla, his youngest sister, were sent to live with their uncle on a dairy farm in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, attending a one-teacher school with about one dozen pupils.
Living in Goroka, he initially built up a fleet of mainly Cessna planes, which were suited to conditions in the highlands of New Guinea, earning himself a reputation as an astute buyer of aircraft.
In 1968 he established Talco, in order to promote PNG tourism, transport workers to plantations on the islands of New Britain and New Ireland, and to conduct aerial spraying.
[2] In 1993, Buchanan closed down Talair, a result of declining economic conditions, the high cost of running a fleet with many different types of plane, and the constant need to negotiate fare increases with the government.
Once again, he built up a substantial airline which, by the late 1990s, was carrying 400,000+ passengers per year, employing more than 400 people, with 16 planes, and flying to 34 destinations in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Norfolk Island.
In 2001, Buchanan, put FWA into voluntary liquidation, ceasing trading while still solvent in order that staff redundancy payments could be guaranteed.
[1] Buchanan was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1976 Queen's Birthday Honours List, for services to aviation and tourism.