deliveries

QantasLink is a regional brand of Australian airline Qantas and is an affiliate member of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is a major competitor to Regional Express Airlines.

History

Prior to 2002, Qantas' various subsidiaries operated under separate brands. In 2002, a common brand was created encompassing the regional subsidiaries, Airlink, Sunstate, Eastern Australia Airlines, and Southern Australia Airlines. For a short while, QantasLink took over some of Qantas' non-trunk routes, such as Sydney - Sunshine Coast, using Boeing 717s that were inherited after Qantas acquired Impulse Airlines. QantasLink ceased operating some of these routes after Qantas formed low-cost subsidiary Jetstar, transferring the Boeing 717 aircraft and routes to the new airline. In 2005/06, eight of the 717s were returned to QantasLink following Jetstar's acquisition of Airbus A320 aircraft. However this time they are being operated in Western Australia, Northern Territory and far north Queensland by National Jet.

Fleet

QantasLink fleet (as of November 2008)

Aircraft	Total	Notes
de Havilland Canada DHC-8-200	5	Used within various routes of Qantaslink network. Four used by Eastern Australia, one used by Sunstate.[1][2]
Bombardier Dash 8-300	16	11 are used by Eastern Australia and five by Sunstate.[1][2]
Bombardier Q400	12 (9 Orders)	All 12 are currently used by Sunstate, Eastern Australia use of the Q400 is pending.
Boeing 717-200	13	Operated by National Jet[3] flying to destinations in Western Australia, Northern Territory & Queensland.

QantasLink Boeing 717-200 taking off from Perth International Airport

QantasLink flights are operated by the airlines that make up the group - Eastern Australia Airlines and Sunstate Airlines; and also contracted carrier National Jet. Although all flights use QF IATA codes, the actual ICAO codes and callsigns used in the Air Traffic Control system vary as to the airline operating the service. Eastern and Sunstate also use special two letter ICAO codes for use in Australia only. Eastern and Sunstate operate the Dash 8 services, with the Boeing 717 flights being operated by National Jet.

The codes used by these airlines are:

ICAO	Callsign
EAQ	Eastern
SSQ	Sunstate
NJS	National Jet

Expansion

Currently QantasLink has 12 Dash 8 Q400s, with an additional nine on order plus 24 options. The AUD$400 Million dollar investment will increase capacity on various key routes and was to also allow for the retirement of all DHC-8-100s by the end of 2010; due to rising fuel costs this has been accelerated so that as of November 2008 all are now retired. Qantaslink pursued this deal despite recent landing gear problems with Q400 aircraft by some airlines. This problem also saw a grounding of the Q400s by QantasLink, though all were deemed safe and returned to service.

As part of their further expansion, QantasLink entered the South Australian market in December 2005, with flights from Adelaide to Port Lincoln and Kangaroo Island. Interstate flights were also introduced between Kangaroo Island and Melbourne. Due to low passenger loads, these services ceased operation at the end of June 2006, along with the services ex Melbourne to Burnie.

Since 2005, Qantaslink services in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory have been contracted to National Jet, using the QantasLink brand. The hubs for QantasLink under the National Jet Systems contract are in Perth, Western Australia, Cairns, Queensland and Darwin, Northern Territory.

Qantas replaced its daily Melbourne-Launceston Boeing 737 service with a twice daily, now three times daily QantasLink Dash 8 service from 1 August 2006.

In May 2008, Qantaslink announced that Tamworth will be the first New South Wales regional port to be serviced by the Dash 8 Q400, commencing in mid-August 2008.^[4]

Destinations

• QantasLink destinations served by Eastern Australia Airlines:

• • Australian Capital Territory
  • Canberra

• • New South Wales
  • Albury
  • Armidale
  • Coffs Harbour
  • Dubbo
  • Lord Howe Island
  • Moree
  • Narrabri
  • Port Macquarie
  • Sydney Hub
  • Tamworth
  • Wagga Wagga

• • Tasmania
  • Devonport
  • Launceston

• • Victoria
  • Melbourne Hub
  • Mildura
  • Mount Hotham Seasonal

• QantasLink destinations served by Sunstate Airlines:

• • Australian Capital Territory
  • Canberra Hub

• • New South Wales
  • Lord Howe Island
  • Newcastle
  • Sydney

• • Queensland
  • Barcaldine
  • Biloela
  • Blackall
  • Blackwater
  • Brisbane Hub
  • Bundaberg
  • Cairns Hub
  • Charleville
  • Emerald
  • Gladstone
  • Hamilton Island
  • Hervey Bay
  • Horn Island
  • Longreach
  • Mackay
  • Rockhampton
  • Roma
  • Townsville
  • Weipa

• QantasLink destinations served by National Jet:

• • Northern Territory
  • Alice Springs
  • Ayers Rock
  • Darwin Hub
  • Gove

• • Queensland
  • Cairns Hub

• • Western Australia
  • Broome
  • Kalgoorlie
  • Karratha
  • Newman
  • Paradurdoo
  • Perth Hub

Accidents and Incidents

• On 29 May 2003, Qantas Flight 1737, a domestic flight from Melbourne to Launceston, was subject to an attempted hijacking.

• On 7 February 2008, Qantas Flight 1944, a National Jet Boeing 717 flight from Gove to Darwin suffered airframe damage on landing in Darwin, when the aircraft entered an area of high sink on final approach and made a heavy landing. Wrinkling was later found in the aft fuselage.^[5] A Boeing team repaired the aircraft in Darwin and it was returned to service in May 2008

See also

• Qantas
• Regional airline
• Eastern Australia Airlines
• National Jet
• Sunstate Airlines

References

External links

• QantasLink Official Info

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Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article