Eastern Australia Airlines

Infobox Airline
airline = Eastern Australia Airlines

logo_size =
IATA = QF
ICAO = EAQ
callsign = Eastern
founded = 1949
hubs = Sydney Airport, Melbourne Airport
secondary_hubs =
focus_cities =
frequent_flyer = Qantas Frequent Flyer
lounge = Qantas Club
alliance = Oneworld
subsidiaries =
fleet_size = 14
destinations = 16
parent = Qantas Airways Pty Ltd
company_slogan = Spirit of Australia
headquarters = Sydney, Australia
key_people =
website =

Eastern Australia Airlines Pty Ltd is an airline based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a regional domestic airline serving 16 destinations under the QantasLink banner. Its main base is Sydney Airport, with a hub at Melbourne Airportcite news | title= Directory: World Airlines | work= Flight International | page= 75 | date= 2007-04-03] .

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1949. It began in Tamworth as a one aircraft, one pilot operation, known as Tamworth Air Taxi Service (soon after to be shortened to Tamair), serving farming communities in New South Wales and Queensland. After 36 years of expansion and amalgamation with several smaller commuter operators, the current name was adopted in 1987. 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.

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

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. [ [http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/au/publicaffairs/details?ArticleID=2008/aug08/3797 "QantasLink Announces New Q400 Schedule for NSW"; Qantas Media Release.] Retrieved 6 September 2008.]

Destinations

As of September 2008 Eastern Australia Airlines operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations: [ [http://www.qantas.com.au/flightinfo/do/dyn/ScheduleSearch Qantas online schedule.] Accessed 6 September 2008.]

;From Sydney
Albury, New South Wales
Armidale, New South Wales
Canberra
Coffs Harbour, New South Wales
Dubbo, New South Wales
Lord Howe Island
Moree, New South Wales
Narrabri, New South Wales
Port Macquarie, New South Wales
Tamworth, New South Wales
Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

;From Melbourne
Devonport, Tasmania
Launceston, Tasmania
Mildura, Victoria

Fleet

As of September 2008 the Eastern Australia Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft: [ [http://www.casa.gov.au/casadata/regsearch/airsresults.asp?VHin=&framein=all&manuin=&modelin=&regholdin=&regopin=Eastern+Australia&serialin=&num_results=50&Search=Search Australian civil aircraft register search, using "Eastern Australia" as the search parameter.] Search conducted 23 September 2008.]

*4 de Havilland Canada DHC-8-200
*10 Bombardier Dash 8 Q300

References