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Reverted - unreferenced; this is getting a little bit silly now
Undid revision 429346629 by YSSYguy (talk)717's use their registration out of perth and darwin, listen to live ATC, where is your reference that they dont?
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QantasLink flights are operated by the individual airlines that make up the group - Eastern Australia Airlines and Sunstate Airlines; and also contracted carrier [[Cobham Aviation Services Australia|Cobham Aviation]]. All flights use QF IATA codes, and on 5 January 2009 both Eastern and Sunstate changed from their previous individual callsigns to the common Q-Link (pronounced "Cue-Link").
QantasLink flights are operated by the individual airlines that make up the group - Eastern Australia Airlines and Sunstate Airlines; and also contracted carrier [[Cobham Aviation Services Australia|Cobham Aviation]]. All flights use QF IATA codes, and on 5 January 2009 both Eastern and Sunstate changed from their previous individual callsigns to the common Q-Link (pronounced "KEW-Link"), Qantaslink 717's operating out of Perth and Darwin use their Registration.


===Expansion===
===Expansion===

Revision as of 06:12, 16 May 2011

QantasLink
IATA ICAO Callsign
QF QLK Q-LINK
Founded2002
AllianceOneworld (Affiliate)
SubsidiariesEastern Australia Airlines
Sunstate Airlines
AirLink (Operated by Cobham Aviation Services Australia)
Fleet size53
Destinations54
HeadquartersSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Websitewww.qantaslink.com.au

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, Virgin Blue and Skywest 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 Airlines, 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 Airways, 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, to be operated in Western Australia, Northern Territory and far north Queensland by National Jet (now Cobham Aviation Services Australia).

Fleet

QantasLink Boeing 717-200 taking off from Perth International Airport
QantasLink Q400 at Wagga Wagga Airport.
QantasLink fleet (as of April 2011)[1]
Aircraft Total Orders Notes
Boeing 717-200 11 2[2] Operated by Cobham Aviation
Bombardier Dash 8 Q200 5 0 Operated by Eastern Australia
Bombardier Dash 8 Q300 15 0 Operated by Eastern Australia
Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 22 6[3] Operated by Sunstate

QantasLink flights are operated by the individual airlines that make up the group - Eastern Australia Airlines and Sunstate Airlines; and also contracted carrier Cobham Aviation. All flights use QF IATA codes, and on 5 January 2009 both Eastern and Sunstate changed from their previous individual callsigns to the common Q-Link (pronounced "KEW-Link"), Qantaslink 717's operating out of Perth and Darwin use their Registration.

Expansion

Currently QantasLink has 22 Dash 8 Q400s, with 6 orders and 17 options. The A$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 was accelerated so that all were retired by November 2008. QantasLink pursued this deal despite 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 from Melbourne to Burnie.

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

Qantas replaced its daily Melbourne-Launceston Boeing 737 service with a three times daily QantasLink Dash 8 service from 1 August 2006. This has now been increased to a four times daily service.

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

On 8 December 2009, QantasLink announced that it would re-enter the Adelaide to Port Lincoln market from February 2010, using Q400 aircraft flying 23 return services a week.[5]

On 29 March 2010 QantasLink and the Qantas Group announced that it would start the first international QantasLink route, from Cairns to Port Moresby, utilising Q400 aircraft that are already based in Cairns. The service commenced in July 2010. A QantasLink spokesperson stated that "the airline would not turn into a fully fledged international airline, but could operate international routes in the future".[6]

Destinations

Qantaslink International Destinations
QantasLink Domestic destinations served by Eastern Australia Airlines
QantasLink destinations served by Sunstate Airlines
QantasLink destinations served by Cobham Aviation Services Australia (National Jet)

Accidents and Incidents

  • 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.[7] A Boeing team repaired the aircraft in Darwin and it was returned to service in May 2008.

See also

References

  1. ^ CASA civil aircraft register search, using "Eastern Australia", "Sunstate Airlines" and "Boeing 717" as search parameters. Search conducted 10 April 2011.
  2. ^ http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/au/publicaffairs/details?ArticleID=2011/feb11/5081
  3. ^ http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/qantas-to-buy-more-bombardier-aircraft-20100721-10l3e.html
  4. ^ Bigger is better: Qantas introduces 72 seater - Northern Daily Leader
  5. ^ New QantasLink for Adelaide-Port Lincoln route - AdelaideNow
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ Aviation Safety Investigation Report - ATSB
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