It served a changing roster of destinations in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, concentrated on services between Perth and Darwin via towns in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions.

[1] The initial success of operating the DH.9 to Broken Hill made Miller seek investment to purchase a larger aircraft more suitable for regular airline service.

The airline was run out of the MacRobertson's office in Adelaide, supported by corporate headquarters in Melbourne, which provided key administrative and legal abilities in the company's early years.

Always with an eye to publicity, Robertson requested that the cabin of Old Gold be filled with MacRobertson confectionary for its delivery flight to Adelaide, which was then distributed to the gathered crowd.

Horrie Miller obtained agreement from MacRobertson's that MMA should bid for the service between Perth in Western Australia and Daly Waters in the Northern Territory that had was then operated by West Australian Airways.

[1][2][3] The MacRobertson's clerical and accounting departments were able to prepare a detailed and attractive bid that won MMA the contract despite having no presence or services in Western Australia.

The service between Perth and Darwin (via meeting the Imperial Airways mail flight heading to or from the United Kingdom at Daly Waters) was initially operated by a trio of de Havilland Dragon light airliners.

A feeder service to cattle stations in the Kimberley, Western Australia was soon started out of Ord River using a de Havilland Fox Moth.

MMA acquired new, larger aircraft with better performance and range, including a pair of Lockheed Electras and two four-engined de Havilland Express.

After protests, a single C-47, converted to airliner specification, was provided - VH-AEU - and made its first flight from Perth to Derby (via intermediate ports) in November 1945.

Surviving Lockheed Electras were operated for a time, but the airline decided to standardise on DC-3s for its main services out of Perth to the Pilbara, Kimberley and into Darwin.

The cleanliness of MMA aircraft, even when operated in remote rural airstrips with minimal protection or facilities, became a notable feature of the airline.

The enlarged MMA inherited Airlines (WA)'s routes to the south and east of Perth to Albany and Esperance, as well as what was one of the shortest scheduled airline routes in the world - the hop to Rottnest Island18 km (11 miles) off the coast at Perth and a dense network of 'as required' local services for cattle stations, farms and settlements in the Wheatbelt.

After this merger the new MacRobertson Miller Airlines operated a network of more than 32,000 km, from Esperance in Western Australia to Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory.

Instead of driving cattle to Wyndham for slaughter (where they often arrived in poor condition), an abattoir was built at Glenroy as well as a brand new all-weather airfield plus maintenance facilities and accommodation for the aircraft crews.

MMA converted DC-3 VH-MMF (named RMA Gascoyne) to a freighter, including removing its autopilot, sound-deadening and (given the warm weather of the seasonal operation) its anti-ice equipment to maximise payload and allow three tons of beef to carried on each flight, with three round trips per day.

From the time of the merger with Airlines (WA), the newly structured MMA began looking at the introduction of turboprop aircraft to accelerate its long-range services - it still being a journey of two full days on the Perth-Darwin 'main line'.

With the F27 the 'main line' journey could be accomplished in a single day, with more comfortable cruising at high altitudes thanks to cabin pressurization and, for the first time on MMA services, hot meals served in-flight.

[5] Ansett's purchase was well-timed, as Western Australia was about to undergo a huge increase in traffic as large-scale mining operations in the Pilbara began.

Also, 1963 saw the agreement to construct the Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt at Exmouth, while up in the Kimberley the Ord River Irrigation Scheme had begun in 1960, promising an agricultural boom.

In the Northern Territory, the old 'mission runs', originally requiring numerous stops in remote, unfurnished airstrips to support small settlements and Christian missions, were being replaced by scheduled services to supply the new bauxite mining operations.

In 1966 a statement by MMA declared it had become Australia's third-largest domestic airline (behind Ansett-ANA and TAA), serving 97 destinations and carrying over 100,000 passengers that year.

Viscount operations suddenly ended after the fatal crash of MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750, found to be caused by structural corrosion.

The first of MMA's own F28 order, VH-FKA (taking over the name RMA Pilbara, and wearing the new registration system now Ansett had ended the traditional VH-MMx format), entered service in June 1970.

Until well into the 1980s the only airport served by MMA between Perth and Darwin with its own air traffic control operation was Port Hedland (established with the introduction of VH-MMJ in 1969).

Growth continued for the airline in its new form, with an additional F28-1000 (VH-FKG) being purchased second-hand and soon joined by a brand new pair of larger F28-4000s (with 85 seats) being delivered in 1982.

Ansett WA's fleet was bolstered by the introduction of British Aerospace 146 quad-jets,[6] seven of which were introduced between 1985 and 1993 with an aim of both adding capacity and retiring the older Fokker jets.

According to the 5 April 1970 MMA system timetable, the airline was operating F28 jet service into Dampier, Darwin, Derby, Kununurra, Perth and Port Hedland at this time.

[8] MMA also flew one of the world's shortest scheduled air services, from Perth to Rottnest Island flying the Douglas DC-3 and later the Fokker F-27 Friendship.

VH-FKD was originally purchased for Ansett division Airlines of New South Wales but transferred to MMA when it proved uneconomical on the NSW intrastate routes.