QantasLink Bids Farewell to Dash 8 Q300 Turboprop Fleet After 25 Years

QantasLink has officially retired its De Havilland Canada Dash-8 Q300 fleet after an impressive 25 years of service with this Australian regional airline. These turboprop aircraft have played a significant role in connecting smaller communities to major urban centers, operating alongside the larger Q400s and smaller Q200s. However, as part of a transition to a fully standardized fleet, the Q300s, along with the Q200s, are being phased out in favor of the all-Dash 8-400s (Q400).

In June 2024, QantasLink announced plans for a fleet modernization that involved replacing the smaller Dash-8 variants with an additional 14 Q400s. The first of these new aircraft joined QantasLink at the end of 2024. According to the airline, “the Q400 aircraft are over 30% faster than the Q200 and Q300 models, enabling quicker journeys for regional travelers. This younger fleet will enhance operational reliability as well.”

“With this investment, our fleet of Q400 aircraft will increase to 45. Streamlining three different sub-fleets into one will yield greater efficiencies and lower maintenance costs for QantasLink. Importantly, there will be no significant change in our overall turboprop capacity,” the airline highlighted in its statement.

Now that most of the new Q400s are in service, QantasLink has bid farewell to its last Q300 aircraft. Earlier in 2025, the smaller Q200s were transferred to Skytrans, now known as SmartLynx Australia, to operate shuttle services to Lord Howe Island, a route QantasLink has since exited.

As the number of Q300s continued to dwindle, the final QantasLink flight involving this aircraft type was on August 8, 2025, traveling between Tamworth, New South Wales, and Sydney as QF2003. This flight utilized the aircraft registered as VH-SBV, which, over its service life, transported more than 1.2 million passengers on around 39,000 flights since its joining the fleet in 2000 through Sunstate Airlines.

“The Q300 has set the stage for the future of our turboprop operations. Transitioning to a single fleet of Q400s will boost reliability and decrease emissions per seat, ensuring we can continue serving regional Australia for years to come,” stated QantasLink CEO Rachel Yangoyan, as reported by the Australian Aviation website. “This aircraft has been more than a mode of transport; it has been part of significant moments for our crew and passengers. For many regional travelers, the Q300 has been essential for work, family visits, and vacations. The cherished interactions with our team have been equally important as the journeys themselves,” she added.

QantasLink and the Q Series

Over the past 34 years, QantasLink has operated every Dash-8 Q variant (Q100, Q200, Q300, and Q400). These aircraft are well-suited for operations on shorter regional runways and rural airfields across remote areas of Australia. With the introduction of the mid-life Q400 fleet now complete, QantasLink’s fleet totals 45 Q400s. While the original 34 aircraft had a capacity of 74 passengers, the newer mid-life variants can accommodate up to 78. In comparison, the retired Q300s could carry 50 passengers, and the smaller Q200s had a capacity of 36.

QantasLink serves over 3.5 million customers annually, linking more than 50 regional destinations in Australia with major hubs in cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. The consolidation of the Q-series sub-fleets into solely Q400 aircraft aims to lower operational and engineering costs while boosting on-time performance and reliability.