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SmartLynx Australia has officially taken over Sydney–Lord Howe Island services from QantasLink.
The regional carrier, which has been operating wet-lease services to the island for several months, is now flying the route in its own right with ex-Qantas Dash-8 aircraft. The first SmartLynx QN11/12 services to and from Lord Howe Island commenced on Monday on the Dash 8-200 VH-TQX.
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“SmartLynx Australia will work with all stakeholders to help grow the visitor economy on the beautiful Lord Howe Island,” SmartLynx Australia CEO, Gytis Gumuliauskas, said.
“We are looking to offer more capacity with our Dash-8 turboprop fleet to address regional market needs, to support other regional airlines, and to maintain the essentially important regional airline services that our Lord Howe Island customers are used to.”
QantasLink exited the service after replacing its fleet of smaller Dash-8s with Q400s, which are too large to land at Lord Howe, but will codeshare with SmartLynx on the route.
“After 30 years of operating to Lord Howe Island, today marks and end of an era for Qantas as SmartLynx takes over the exclusive licence for flights to and from the island,” QantasLink chief operating officer Nick Collie said.
“Qantas is pleased to be able to continue supporting residents as a codeshare partner.”
Speaking to Australian Aviation, SmartLynx chief commercial officer Richard George reiterated the carrier’s commitment to regional services even as it expands into wet-leasing operations.
“In regional aviation, in Australia, at the moment, we’ve got an operation that’s pretty robust, quite sustainable,” he said.
“We’re obviously growing with Sydney-Lord Howe, you know, taking over that in our own right today, we’ll continue to have the Qantas code share on that.
“We’re a well-funded regional operator that’s here to help other regional operators, and the regional market in general, in providing capacity.”
The carrier earlier this year axed its Cessna Caravan operations from Horn Island in the Torres Strait, which George told Australian Aviation was about “consolidating operations” into its Dash-8 and A319 services.
“Single-engine turbine operations are very different to multi-engine turbines or jets. In exiting the Caravan operation, we made sure that services in the Torres Strait weren’t affected, and that any passenger bookings that we had were taken care of,” he said.
“The staff, as we wound down the operation, were taken care of. So, while we ceased that operation, the community up there hasn’t been left without a provider.”
SmartLynx is set to rebrand again, likely in the new year, having been renamed from Skytrans earlier in 2025.
