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Eastern Australia Airlines

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Eastern Australia Airlines
IATA ICAO Call sign
— EAQ —
Founded1949; 75 years ago (1949)
AOC #CASA.AOC.0003
Operating bases
Frequent-flyer programQantas Frequent Flyer
Fleet size19
Destinations25
Parent companyQantas
HeadquartersMascot, New South Wales, Australia

Eastern Australia Airlines Pty Ltd is an airline based on the grounds of Sydney Airport in Mascot, New South Wales, Australia.[1] It is a regional domestic airline serving sixteen destinations within Australia under the QantasLink banner. Its main base is Sydney Airport, with a hub at Melbourne Airport.[2]

History

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The airline was established and started operations in 1949. It began in Tamworth as Tamworth Air Taxi Service (shortened to Tamair later on). The name was changed to Eastern Australia Airlines in 1986. Australian Airlines purchased 26% of Eastern Australian Airlines from East-West Airlines in 1988, and the airline became a wholly owned subsidiary in 1991. Qantas purchased Australian Airlines in 1992.[citation needed]

In 2002, Qantas merged its Mildura-based subsidiary Southern Australia Airlines with Eastern, the resulting operation using the Eastern name.[citation needed]

In August 2008 it was announced that Eastern Australia would shortly commence operating 72-seat Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft on services to regional centres in New South Wales, supplementing services with smaller 50-seat Dash 8s and allowing the removal of 36-seat Dash 8s from service on some routes altogether with the retirement of all 100 series Dash 8s.[3]

In June 2015, Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce announced that Eastern Australia would operate regional services in New Zealand, using Jetstar-branded Bombardier Dash 8 turboprops.[4]

In September 2019, Jetstar CEO Garath Evans announced a proposal to withdraw from regional flying in New Zealand. This was followed up by a confirmation in October 2019. Jetstar cited soft demand, higher fuel costs and a loss making operation as reasons for the withdrawal. Following the withdrawal, the five Jetstar-branded Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft were transferred back to Australia.[5][6]

On 25 June 2024, Qantas announced an order for 14 mid-life Dash 8-400 (Q400) aircraft to be operated by fellow Qantaslink airline, Sunstate.[7] This will begin the phasing out of the Q200 and Q300 aircraft, with the fleet replacement leading to all aircraft being retired from the Eastern Australia fleet and the company will cease to operate as an airline.[8][9] The company will however continue to employ pilots and cabin crew to operate domestic and regional services for Qantaslink.

Destinations

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Eastern Australia Airlines operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations. Between December 2015 and November 2019 Eastern Australian Airlines operated regional domestic services within New Zealand under the Jetstar brand.[10]

Australia
From Sydney
From Melbourne
From Adelaide

Fleet

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Eastern Australia Airlines De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 operated for QantasLink

Current fleet

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As of December 2024, Eastern Australia Airlines operates the following aircraft:[11]

Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-200 3 — 36[12] To be transferred to Skytrans,[13] and replaced by mid-life Q400.[7]
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 15 — 50[14] To be retired and replaced by mid-life Q400.[7]
Total 18 —

Historical fleet

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Formerly, Eastern Australia Airlines also operated the following aircraft types:

Eastern Historical Fleet
Aircraft In Fleet Introduced Retired
Cessna 404[citation needed] 9 — —
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100[15] 17 1988 2004

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. 23–29 March 2004. 66.
  2. ^ "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 3 April 2007. p. 75.
  3. ^ "QantasLink Announces New Q400 Schedule for NSW". 6 August 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
  4. ^ Bradley, Grant (18 June 2015). "Regional shake-up: Jetstar to break Air New Zealand's domestic stranglehold". The New Zealand Herald. NZME. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Jetstar proposes withdrawal from regional flying in New Zealand"; Jetstar Media Release.. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  6. ^ "Jetstar confirms withdrawal from five regional domestic routes in New Zealand"; Jetstar Media Release.. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "Qanta Group Invests in Regional Turboprop Fleet". Qantas Newsroom. 25 June 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Flight history for aircraft - VH-84A". Flightradar24. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  9. ^ "C-FENY JD Aero Bombardier DHC-8-400". www.planespotters.net. 3 December 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
  10. ^ Qantas online schedule.. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  11. ^ "QantasLink". Planespotters.net. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Qantaslink Seat Map Dash 8 Q200 36 Economy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  13. ^ "News". Skytrans. Archived from the original on 4 November 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  14. ^ "Qantaslink Seat Map Dash 8 Q300 50 Economy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  15. ^ "Eastern Australia Airlines Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. 26 May 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
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Media related to Eastern Australia Airlines at Wikimedia Commons

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