Sunstate Retires Shorts360 - The end of an era
 

END OF AN ERA The only remaining Shorts 360 aircraft in the QantasLink fleet, VH-SUR, flew its final service between Bundaberg and Brisbane last Saturday (21SEP). Shorts have been a familiar sight in Queensland skies for 18 years and their retirement, along with the Beechcraft 1900s last month, signals the creation of a single-type turbo prop fleet for QantasLink. Sunstate and Eastern Australia Airlines now have an all Dash 8 fleet, while Boeing 717 and BAe146 jets make up the QantasLink regional jet fleet. When Sunstate Airlines introduced the Shorts with their distinctive shape in 1984, the aircraft's wide-bodied cabins, full headroom, overhead lockers, hot and cold galley service and onboard toilet set a new benchmark for regional aircraft. The Shorts were the flagship and core of the Sunstate fleet in the mid-80s, with the airline operating Shorts 330 as well as the 100, 200 and 300 series of the larger Shorts 360. In total 162,446 flying hours have been logged for Sunstate's Shorts fleet including 211,860 flight sectors that included a network from the Torres Strait to Brisbane and south into NSW.

Source: Qantas News


No more air sick pax....wooo !

Cabinboy

I flew for Sunstate back in 1989, prior to their merging with QF.
Absolutely loved the Shorts. Decided to go back to AN ????
Many fond memories of my 11 hour days and regular stops for fuel.
I'd give my right arm to be doing it again!:D

Vale the Shorts............
But is it The Irish Concorde or the box the Dash came in?