The First QantasLink Airbus A220 Routes

Qantas’ first Airbus A220 jets will enter passenger service next week, starting on 1 March 2024 with the routes from Melbourne to Canberra and Brisbane. National Jet Systems will operate these brand new planes under the QantasLink brand.

The Airbus A220-300 is a modern regional jet originally designed and built by Bombardier as the CSeries. Airbus later bought out Bombardier, rebranding the Bombardier CSeries as the Airbus A220 in the process.

From a passenger’s point of view, the Airbus A220 is a very comfortable aircraft. QantasLink’s version has 10 Business Class seats in a 2-2 configuration and 127 Economy seats in a 2-3 layout.

There’s free Wi-Fi, streaming entertainment and USB charging outlets (both USB-A or USB-C) for all passengers.

The front row, exit row (12) and first six pairs of Economy seats on the left-hand side of the plane also feature extra legroom. Qantas is charging $30-40 to choose one of these seats in advance, except Platinum One members who can select them for free.

From an airline’s point of view, the Airbus A220 is also a very capable aircraft. It has the range to fly between any two points in Australia, and it burns 25% less fuel than the Boeing 717s that the A220 fleet will replace.

The new planes will initially all be based at Melbourne Airport.

As the fleet eventually grows to 29 Airbus A220s, QantasLink will introduce them onto lots more routes. But to start with, they’ll be used on the following five routes over the coming months…

Melbourne-Canberra is the inaugural QantasLink A220 route

Melbourne-Canberra will be the inaugural route for the Qantas A220-300, with the following flights starting from Friday, 1 March 2024:

QF1260 and QF1263 won’t run on 1 March, so the inaugural QantasLink A220 passenger service (following a media-only trip to Uluru) will be QF1266 on 1 March.

If you’d like to book a ride on Qantas’ newest aircraft type, you could fly from Melbourne to Canberra for as little as 8,000 Qantas points + $67. A Business Class ticket costs 18,400 Qantas points + $67.

Qantas will use a mixture of Boeing 717s and Airbus A220s on the Melbourne-Canberra route for the next little while. You can identify the A220 flights as they all have flight numbers in the “QF12xx” range.

Melbourne-Brisbane

QantasLink will also start flying A220-300s on one Melbourne-Brisbane rotation each weekday from 1 March 2024.

Melbourne-Hobart

After spreading their wings between Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane for the next few months, QantasLink will also introduce A220s onto the Melbourne-Hobart route from 1 July 2024. They will initially operate these flights:

Melbourne-Coffs Harbour

From 27 October 2024 (the start of the IATA northern winter season), Qantas is scheduling A220s onto its Melbourne-Coffs Harbour route. This is the schedule:

Melbourne-Launceston

The A220 will then supplement QantasLink’s Dash 8 services on the Melbourne-Launceston route:

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

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