QantasLink has announced that it will launch services on the Adelaide-Port Lincoln route from February 15, placing it in competition with Regional Express.
Subject to regulatory and local council approval, QantasLink will operate 23 return services each week on the route with a 74-seat Bombardier Q400, making 3400 seats available each week.
“We will offer four return flights Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, three return flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and double daily flights on both days of the weekend,” explained QantasLink executive manager Narendra Kumar. “These services will be timed to provide business travellers an extensive choice of frequency that will enable them to return to Port Lincoln on the same day, or for our Adelaide customers to easily commute between Port Lincoln and the city.”
The new service will see QantasLink establish a crew base in Adelaide, which could allow the Qantas subsidiary to launch more routes in South Australia, possibly further competing against Rex, which flies from Adelaide to Coober Pedy, Ceduna, Whyalla, Kangaroo Island and Mount Gambier, as well as to Broken Hill.
