QantasLink says goodbye to its Dash 8 Q300 turboprop fleet after 25 years

QantasLink has bid farewell to its fleet of De Havilland Canada Dash-8 Q300s after completing over 25 years in service with the Australian regional carrier. The turboprops, which operated alongside larger Q400s and smaller Q200s, have served smaller communities on rural routes from the major urban centers for a quarter of a century, but have now been phased out (along with the Q200s) in favor of an all-Dash 8-400s (Q400) standardized fleet across the QantasLink network.

In June 2024, QantasLink announced that it would be modernizing its turboprop fleet by phasing out the smaller Dash-8 variants and replacing them with 14 additional mid-life Q400s. The first of the additional aircraft arrived with the carrier at the end of 2024. According to the carrier speaking at the time, “the Q400 aircraft are more than 30% faster than the Q200 and Q300 aircraft, saving customers time travelling to and from regional destinations. The younger fleet will also help improve operational reliability.”

“This investment will bring the number of Q400 aircraft in the fleet to 45, with the consolidation of three sub-fleets into a single fleet of turboprops providing further scale benefits and efficiencies for QantasLink, including lower maintenance and operating costs. At the completion of the fleet changes, there will be no material change to QantasLink’s overall turboprop capacity,” added the statement.

Ryan Fletcher / ShutterstockWith the majority of the additional Q400s now in service, the time came for QantasLink to release the last of the Q300s. The smallest version, the Q200s, were transferred to Skytrans (now trading as SmartLynx Australia) earlier in 2025 to operate the shuttle services to Lord Howe Island, with QantasLink withdrawing from the route and handing operations to the smaller carrier.

However, with a dwindling number of Q300s still operating since then, the last QantasLink flight using the type operated on August 8, 2025, between the New South Wales town of Tamworth and Sydney as QF2003 and was operated by aircraft registered VH-SBV. According to QantasLink, this particular airframe has flown over 1.2 million passengers on 39,000 flights over its lifetime. The 50-seater turboprop joined the QantasLink fleet with subsidiary carrier Sunstate Airlines in 2000.

“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,” said QantasLink CEO Rachel Yangoyan as reported by the Australian Aviation website. “This aircraft has carried more than just passengers. It has carried milestones and memories for our people and our customers. For so many regional communities, the Q300 has been the way to travel to work, to see family, or on holidays. And for our regular travellers, the familiar faces and care of our team have been just as valuable as the connection itself,” she added.

Ryan Fletcher / ShutterstockQantasLink and the Q series

QantasLink has operated every Dash-8 Q variant (the Q100, Q200, Q300, and Q400) over the last 34 years, with the type being ideally suited to operate from shorter regional runways and the more rural airfields in more remote parts of Australia. With the new mid-life Q400 fleet now fully onstream, the QantasLink fleet consists of 45 of the type. While the original 34 aircraft that served were configured to carry 74 passengers, the mid-life additional aircraft can accommodate up to 78 passengers. The Q300s they have replaced carried 50 passengers, while the smaller Q200s could carry 36 on board each flight.

PomInOz / ShutterstockQantasLink carries over 3.5 million customers annually, connecting over 50 regional destinations in Australia to regional hubs at cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. With the consolidation of the sub-fleets of Q-series aircraft into solely the Q400 variant, the airline’s aim was to reduce operating and engineering costs, with fleet commonality also providing for improved on-time performance and reliability.

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