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Regional aircraft in Australia are on average four to nine years older than those operating capital city services, a new report says.
In its Australian Aviation Network Overview report for July 2025, Airservices Australia noted that the regional aviation industry “relies heavily on ageing aircraft, highlighting challenges in fleet modernisation”.
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“The age of aircraft averages 15 years on capital city routes, 19 years on capital city to non-capital routes and 24 years on non-capital routes,” the report read.
“As Australian airlines renew their fleets, we are seeing newer, more efficient aircraft being deployed on busy domestic routes.
“However, the regional market relies heavily on ageing aircraft, highlighting challenges in fleet modernisation. It is noted that both the Qantas Group and Virgin Australia are expected to receive new aircraft in the second half of 2025.”
QantasLink’s seventh A220-300, VH-X4G “Whale Shark”, arrived in Australia in May, while Virgin Australia expects to take delivery of its first E190-E2 next month. QantasLink is also seeking mid-life E190s to replace Network Aviation’s Fokker 100s, while its turboprop Dash 8 fleet has moved to entirely Q400s.
QantasLink in WA has also added several A319s formerly flown by US budget carrier Spirit, some of which will operate flights from Perth to Newcastle and Hobart.
The report comes as Rex continues to wait in voluntary administration for a new buyer. Speaking to ABC Radio in Coffs Harbour this month, Federal Transport Minister Catherine King acknowledged that its fleet of older Saab 340B aircraft are a significant barrier to a sale.
“It’s got a lot of costs in it to run this airline in particular – one of the problems that it’s got is an aging fleet of aircraft that are very expensive to replace and very hard to replace. The Saabs are now sort of coming offline all over the place, so difficult to get parts,” she said.
“There wasn’t a lot of long-term planning for this airline in terms of fleet renewal, and that’s one of the challenges the administrators have had to tackle in getting a buyer. It’s very costly to get that fleet renewal in.
“It’s costly to run an airline at the best of times, but owning your fleet or leasing aircraft is really one of the very big costs that you have in aviation.”
Rob Walker, CEO of the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA), said the issue of older fleets is widespread in the sector.
“From an RAAA perspective, and for our other members, aging fleet is completely one of our front of mind problems,” he said at the 2025 Australian Aviation Summit.
“There are no new regional aviation aircraft on the drawing boards anywhere in the world. People are looking at, I suppose, re-engining or re-engineering airframes they currently have.
“With the worldwide shortage of aircraft, even if you’re a large airline like Virgin, acquiring wide-body aircraft’s nigh-impossible, and it’s not too dissimilar for regional aviation. If you want a Q400 or a similar type of aircraft, there just aren’t any out there.”
Rex administrator EY Australia was earlier this year granted another six-month extension to its appointment, and will now have until 5 December to finalise a sale.
