Qantas plans to use Fokker 100 aircraft from its Network Aviation subsidiary to operate scheduled flights in Western Australia under the QantasLink brand.
The move will result in QantasLink ending all turboprop operations from its Perth hub and is part of a broader change to the network that will result in four Bombardier Q300 aircraft leaving the fleet and schedule changes in a number of markets.
QantasLink head of airports Todd Chapman said Network’s Air Operator’s Certificate had now been amended to allow it to operate regular public transport (RPT) flights with its 12 100-seat Fokker 100s.
“We are starting to use those aircraft as QF-coded flight numbers on formal RPT routes,” Chapman told delegates at the Australian Airports Association national conference on the Gold Coast on Wednesday.
“It is a real symbol of the diversity that QantasLink now has in order to meet not just right aircraft, right route, but we can also tackle different markets with the different fleet choices that we have depending if they are RPT or charter.”
With the end of turboprop operations at Perth, QantasLink flights from the West Australian capital would use either Boeing 717s or Network-opeated Fokker 100s.