The airline was established and started operations in 1949. It began in Tamworth as Tamworth Air Taxi Service (shortened to Tamair later on). The name was changed to Eastern Australia Airlines in 1986. 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.[citation needed]
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.[3]
In September 2019, Jetstar CEO Garath Evans announced a proposal to withdraw from regional flying in New Zealand. This was followed up by a confirmation in October 2019. Jetstar cited soft demand, higher fuel costs and a loss making operation as reasons for the withdrawal. Following the withdrawal, the five Jetstar-branded Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft were transferred back to Australia.[5][6]
On 25 June 2024, Qantas announced an order for 14 mid-life Dash 8-400 (Q400) aircraft to be operated by fellow Qantaslink airline, Sunstate.[7] This will begin the phasing out of the Q200 and Q300 aircraft, with the fleet replacement leading to all aircraft being retired from the Eastern Australia fleet.[8][9]
On 16 May 2025, QantasLink operated its last flight with the Q200, it flew between Lord Howe Island and Sydney as QF2265, with all the Q200 aircraft now operated by Skytrans to continue the services to Lord Howe Island until March 2030.[10]
On 8 August 2025, Qantaslink operated its last flight with the Q300, it flew between Tamworth and Sydney as QF2003.[11] To commemorative the retirement of the Q300, Qantaslink operated QLK300, a celebratory flight for staff and crew, where the aircraft completed a scenic flight around Sydney and the Harbour Bridge.[12][13] Following this flight Eastern is no longer the registered operator of any aircraft on behalf of the Qantas Group,[14] with all regional turboprop flights operated by Sunstate Airlines Q400 aircraft.[7]
Destinations
Eastern Australia Airlines operates services to the following domestic scheduled destinations. Between December 2015 and November 2019 Eastern Australian Airlines operated regional domestic services within New Zealand under the Jetstar brand.[15]
From December 2024, Eastern began gradually winding down its Q300 destinations from Melbourne and Adelaide, when the last aircraft was retired in August 2025 the following destinations were being served: .
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