Sunstate Airlines

In October 1990 Australian Airlines become the outright owner of Sunstate Airlines and Sunstate Airlines (Mildura).[10] The Mildura operation was subsequently rebranded as Southern Australia Airlines, commencing operations under that name on 1 January 1992. The following month it took delivery of its first pressurised aircraft, a de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8.[11] A second Dash 8 was delivered in March 1992 and the Short 360 was transferred to Sunstate Airlines in July.[11] Southern Australia used the Dash 8s to expand its services, taking over Eastern Australia Airlines routes across Bass Strait from Melbourne to Launceston and Devonport in Tasmania.[11]

Sunstate took delivery of three additional Dash 8s, placing them in service in mid-1992, and took over more routes from Australian Regional Airlines of Queensland,[12] another Australian Airlines subsidiary operating in Queensland that rose after the demise of Air Queensland. It also commenced operations from Brisbane into New South Wales, flying once a week to Lord Howe Island from 20 September 1992. Both Southern Australia and Sunstate also started using Australian Airlines' 'TN' airline code for all of their services following the purchase.[11]

On 1 October 1993, Sunstate absorbed Australian Regional Airlines, taking over its fleet and routes.[13] Before and after the takeover Sunstate rationalised its fleet, now having the three Dash 8s, four Short 360s and five Twin Otters.[13] At the end of that month both Southern Australia and Sunstate changed airline codes again, now operating with the 'QF' of Qantas[13] after that airline shut down Australian Airlines on 30 October.[14] Qantas now found itself with some of the smallest aircraft in the Australian airline industry (Southern Australia's 2 Cessna 404s) and the biggest in the industry (its Boeing 747s and 767s and the former Australian Airlines Airbus A300s). Following Australian Airlines' ceasing operations, Southern Australia commenced flying between Melbourne and Canberra.[13]

In the mid-1990s, both Southern Australia and Sunstate expanded steadily. In 1994 Southern Australia's air ambulance contract was renewed for another five years.[15] Its fleet was expanded in December 1996 when it took delivery of two British Aerospace BAe 146s, using them to commence operations on trunk routes from Hobart and Launceston to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.[16] In 1998 Southern Australia withdrew from the Mildura - Broken Hill route in July, and from Mildura to Adelaide via Renmark in October, and the two airline Cessna 404s were taken out of service. The air ambulance contract and aircraft were taken over by the Royal Flying Doctor Service from 1 November that year.[15]

A Sunstate Airlines DHC-8-202 in a Qantas Link livery

By the end of 1997, Sunstate added another Dash 8 and more Short 360s, so that it was operating four of the former and eight of the latter, along with the five Twin Otters, to a network of 21 destinations in Queensland and New South Wales (including to Newcastle from May).[16] The following year the Twin Otters and three Short 360s were withdrawn after Qantas sold the portfolio of islands in the Great Barrier Reef it had inherited from Australian Airlines (Brampton Island, Dunk Island, Great Keppel Island and Lizard Island); and a DHC-8-200 was added.[15]

In 2001, both Sunstate and Southern Australia (as well as Eastern Australia Airlines, Impulse Airlines and National Jet Systems' Airlink operation) were rebranded as QantasLink,[17] though each entity retained a certain amount of independence. The Southern Australia name subsequently disappeared when it was absorbed into Eastern Australia Airlines.

Also in 2001 Sunstate began re-equipping with the Q300 version of the Dash 8. It eventually received six Q300s and disposed of its remaining Short 360s, thereby achieving an all-Dash 8 fleet.

In 2006 Sunstate took delivery of seven Bombardier Dash 8 Q400. Five were placed in service on its Queensland routes, while two were used to commence new services between Sydney and Canberra.[18] The Q400 fleet has since expanded and smaller variants of the Dash 8 have been progressively withdrawn from service to accommodate the increased capacity of the Q400.