The national carrier has news for NSW-bound travellers on two regional services. Qantas will enter a codeshare agreement with Skytrans for the Lord Howe Island route, allowing customers and Frequent Flyers to book and earn, and operate the new Airbus A220 on its Coffs Harbour–Melbourne service.
Both announcements will offer more options for QF passengers with seamless bookings and Frequent Flyer perks on codeshare flights to Lord Howe Island plus expanded capacity and connections between Melbourne and Coffs Harbour.
Continuing seamless services to Lord Howe Island
With QF retiring the 36-seat Q200 aircraft it currently operates on the route, the NSW Government awarded regional passenger airline Skytrans an exclusive licence to fly to Lord Howe Island from 26 February 2026 on its Q200 aircraft.
The Q200 is the only aircraft that can fly to Lord Howe Island because of the island’s runway length.
The codeshare agreement will commence when Skytrans starts operating these flights. It means travellers can continue to book Lord Howe Island flights via the QF website with frequent flyers earning Status Credits and Qantas Points and accessing lounges in Sydney.
The Lord Howe Island Skytrans flights will operate the same schedule and frequency as QantasLink’s operations from Terminal 3 at Sydney Airport with no impact to existing bookings.
From 26 February 2026, Lord Howe Island flights can be booked through travel advisors, QF channels or skytrans.com.au.
New A220 ups capacity for Coffs Harbour
The new Airbus A220-300 aircraft with Indigenous livery will now fly the Melbourne-Coffs Harbour Airport route, increasing services back to five per week and providing increased seats (137 including 10 business class).
It will also expand connectivity between Coffs Harbour and Melbourne, boosting current capacity by 20 per cent to provide 71,000 seats annually between the two cities.
QantasLink CEO Rachel Yangoyan said the A220 would provide an improved experience for travellers to and from Coffs Harbour.
“We are thrilled to bring the new Airbus A220 aircraft to Coffs Harbour for the first time,” she said.
“We’ve had great feedback from customers on the A220 since it first started flying on our network earlier this year. It offers more space, larger windows, fast Wi-Fi and specially designed seats that will all vastly improve the travelling experience.”
QantasLink also marked the final flight for its last Boeing B717 aircraft in Australia, touching down at Canberra Airport on 26 October 2024. The more fuel-efficient Airbus A220s will replace the B717 fleet.
Read our review on the QantasLink A220-300 preview flight to Uluṟu here.
For more info, head to qantas.com