QantasLink Upgrades Brisbane – Moranbah Capacity

Australian regional air service provider QantasLink is to introduce a new 74-seat Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 on its flights between Brisbane and Moranbah, increasing capacity on the route by 61.9 per cent. The introduction larger aircraft, as well as the addition of four additional rotations per week, has been made possible following the completion of development work

"This major expansion of services linking Brisbane with one of Queensland's key mining centres is in direct response to increasing demand from the local coal and resources industries. We'll continue to grow capacity on this route as more projects come online," said Narendra Kumar, Executive Manager, QantasLink.

QantasLink will operate a total of 24 flights per week on the route, with the new flights being introduced on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. According to the airline, Q400s will operate 15 of these weekly flights with the remainder still served by smaller Q300s. An estimated 35,000 O&D passengers travelled between Birsbane and Moranbah in the last year, up more than 213 per cent on the previous 12 month period.

This expansion follows a recent increase in capacity across a range of regional routes in Queensland, including links to Brisbane from Barcaldine, Blackall, Bundaberg, Emerald, Gladstone, Hervey Bay, Longreach, Mackay, Rockhampton and Roma.