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QantasLink has bid farewell to the Dash-8 Q300 after 25 years in service.
VH-SBV operated the final Q300 flight for QantasLink on Friday morning, QF2003 from Tamworth to Sydney, having carried more than 1.2 million passengers on 39,000 flights over its lifetime. The 50-seater turboprops joined the Qantas fleet with subsidiary Sunstate Airlines in 2000.
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QantasLink has operated every Dash-8 Q variant – the Q100, Q200, Q300 and Q400 – over the last 34 years, and the airline has now retired the smaller models in favour of an all-Q400 turboprop fleet.
“This aircraft has carried more than just passengers. It’s carried milestones and memories for our people and our customers,” said QantasLink chief executive Rachel Yangoyan.
“For so many regional communities, the Q300 has been the way to travel to work, to see family or holidays. And for our regular travellers the familiar faces and care of our team have been just as valuable as the connection itself.”
QantasLink last year purchased 14 mid-life Q400s to phase out its 19 remaining Q200s and Q300s. The Q200 planes went to Skytrans – now SmartLynx Australia – to operate Lord Howe Island services as QantasLink exited the route.
The mid-life Q400s, sourced from an unnamed international carrier, entered service from the end of the 2024 calendar year, bringing QantasLink’s total Q400 fleet to 45. Each will have 78 seats, compared to 74 for QantasLink’s existing Q400s, 50 on its Q300s and 36 on its Q200s.
“The Q300 has paved the way for the next chapter of our turboprop operations. Our move to a single fleet of Q400s will improve reliability, reduce emissions per seat, and help us keep serving regional Australia for decades to come,” Yangoyan said.
According to Qantas Group chief executive Vanessa Hudson, the Q400s are more than 30 per cent faster, produce less carbon emissions per passenger, and are on average 10 years younger than the aircraft they are replacing.
“QantasLink turboprops carry more than 3.5 million customers to more than 50 destinations around regional Australia every year, and these next-generation aircraft allow us to improve the travel experience with a faster and more comfortable experience,” she said in June last year.
“By consolidating our turboprops into a single fleet type, we’ll be able to further improve our reliability and provide a better recovery for our customers during disruptions as well as reducing complexity and cost for our operation.
“We know sustainable travel is important for our customers. These additional Q400s allow us to provide certainty to the regions over the next decade while we work with aircraft manufacturers and other suppliers on electric or battery-powered aircraft that are the right size and range for our network.”
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says:Maybe an “arrangement” whereby these now stored aircraft could be transferred to REX and replace the Saabs which would encourage a serious buyer?