QLINK History

[Incloud]

G'day all,

just after some clarification as to Qlink subsiduary companies... Looking at the QF website and wiki, they say in 2002 that it was formed comprising Airlink, Eastern and Sunstate. But i was under the impression that airlink was bought by REX in 05 and forms part of their company... was there a change of hands or am i missing something. appreicate any help in clearing up how qlink was formed as ive got alot of info and not sure if its all correct....

cheers :ugh:

incloud

[turbantime]

The Airlink you're thinking of is the Dubbo based GA company which has nothing to do with the Qantas group.

The Airlink within the QF group is the brand name given to their regional jet operation. Ie Currently it comprises the 717 operation which has been contracted out to National Jet Systems.

Hope that makes sense.

[puff]

One of the problems with wiki is its sometimes updated by people that don't know their facts.

Infact the QFlink group was a merger of Southern(Mildura based), Eastern(Tamworth/Sydney) and Sunstate(Brisbane). The 'airlink' came from the then BAe146s that Southern operated which AFAIK were National Jet aircraft that were flown by Southern pilots. Thus that part of the operation was called airlink...unlike wikipedia i'm willing to be proven wrong by my facts.

The 717 operation is also branded as QFlink but completely owned by National Jet Systems, whereas the QFlink operation on the Eastern states by the Dash 8s is a company owned by the QF group.

Airlink Dubbo was privately owned by David Miller and was bought up by the Rex Group, completely seperate companies.

[triadic]

Infact the QFlink group was a merger of Southern(Mildura based), Eastern(Tamworth/Sydney) and Sunstate(Brisbane).

Partly correct. The three QF regionals; Southern, Eastern & Sunstate were 3 operations, all with their own AOC. Up until the introduction of Qantaslink brand name they all operated in their own right and conducted their own marketing etc. When the "BRAND" name "Qantaslink" was introduced, it was the first step to bring the regionals together. Even under Qantaslink they continued to operate under their own AOCs. Even with the closure of Southern, both Eastern and Sunstate still (now) operate under their own AOCs, however there is now a lot more blending and sharing if you like of the operation. If you ride with Eastern or Sunstate, the boarding pass will tell you who the AOC operator of that service is. Qantaslink (the brand) do not hold an AOC.


The 'airlink' came from the then BAe146s that Southern operated which AFAIK were National Jet aircraft that were flown by Southern pilots. Thus that part of the operation was called airlink...unlike wikipedia i'm willing to be proven wrong by my facts.

No! Airlink was the Qantas owned marketing arm that had the contract with NJS to operate the BAe146's. That operation was under the NJS AOC. Airlink just did the marketing etc. All those a/c were owned/operated by NJS and they also provided the crews. This also became Qantaslink.

The 3 BAe146's operated by Southern, were crewed by Southern Pilots & F/A's and operated under the Southern AOC. NJS were contracted to conduct maintenance and in the early stages, pilot training.

Hope that helps.

Sadly the blending of Sunstate & Eastern is being driven by the Sydney folk and many of the good things that existed in Sunnies are vanishing.

[Incloud]

that clears things up alot....

thanks guys

:)