# Eastern Australia Airlines

Eastern Australia Airlines Pty Ltd is an airline based on the grounds of Sydney Airport in Mascot, New South Wales, Australia. It is a regional domestic airline serving sixteen destinations within Australia under the QantasLink banner. Its main base is Sydney Airport, with a hub at Melbourne Airport.

## History

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.
In 2002, Qantas merged its Mildura-based subsidiary Southern Australia Airlines with Eastern, the resulting operation using the Eastern name.
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.
In June 2015, Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce announced that Eastern Australia would operate regional services in New Zealand, using Jetstar-branded Bombardier Dash 8 turboprops.
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.
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. 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 and the company will cease to operate as an airline. The company will however continue to employ pilots and cabin crew to operate domestic and regional services for Qantaslink.

## 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.

### From Sydney

* Albury, New South Wales
* Armidale, New South Wales
* Bendigo, Victoria
* Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
* Coffs Harbour, New South Wales
* Dubbo, New South Wales
* Griffith, New South Wales
* Lord Howe Island
* Merimbula, New South Wales
* Mildura, Victoria
* Moree, New South Wales
* Orange, New South Wales
* Port Macquarie, New South Wales
* Tamworth, New South Wales
* Toowoomba, Queensland
* Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

### From Melbourne

* Adelaide, South Australia
* Albury, New South Wales
* Burnie, Tasmania
* Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
* Devonport, Tasmania
* Launceston, Tasmania
* Mildura, Victoria

### From Adelaide

* Kingscote, South Australia
* Mount Gambier, South Australia
* Port Lincoln, South Australia
* Whyalla, South Australia

## Fleet
### Current fleet

As of January 2025, Eastern Australia Airlines operates the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Passengers | Notes |
| De Havilland Canada Dash 8-200 | 3 | — | 36 | To be transferred to Skytrans, and replaced by mid-life Q400 operated by Sunstate. |
| De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 | 6 | — | 50 | To be retired and replaced by mid-life Q400 operated by Sunstate. |
| Total | 9 | — | | |

### Historical fleet

Formerly, Eastern Australia Airlines also operated the following aircraft types:
Eastern Historical Fleet :
| Aircraft | In Fleet | Introduced | Retired |
| Cessna 404 | 9 | — | — |
| De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 | 17 | 1988 | 2004 |