Qantas to start flying the A220-300 from Adelaide
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By Andrew Curran.
Qantas will start flying its A220-300s on the Adelaide (ADL) – Brisbane (BNE) city pair on March 3, 2026. It will be the first time Qantas has operated the aircraft type out of Adelaide and it happens one year after the airline first put the regional jets into service.
Australian Government statistics show that 871,400 people flew the 1,620-kilometre sector between Adelaide and Brisbane in the 12 months to October 31, 2025, making it the country’s 18th busiest domestic air route over the same period.
Alongside Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia also work the route. In the week starting March 3, Jetstar has ten round-trips scheduled on the city pair, using a mix of A320-200 and A321-200NX types. Virgin Australia has 29 round-trips timetabled, almost all operated by B737-800s but with the occasional B737-8 thrown into the mix.
“This is great news from Qantas for customers on one of our top three busiest routes,” said Adelaide Airport CEO Brenton Cox. “New generation aircraft like the A220 are perfectly suited for the flight distance and passenger volumes we see on the Adelaide-Brisbane route.”
A small-scale start for A220 flights from Adelaide
With its 40 weekly round-trips on the Adelaide – Brisbane route, Qantas boasts the most frequencies but it also uses the smallest aircraft – E190-100ARs wet-leased from Alliance Airlines. As Qantas takes delivery of more A220-300s, they will gradually take on more frequencies on the Adelaide – Brisbane city pair.
However, it will be a small-scale start. Qantas timetable data for the week starting March 3 shows the A220-300 will initially operate just three weekly round-trips. Specifically, the aircraft is slotted in to operate the 12.10pm departure from Brisbane (QF1287) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and the 4.10pm departure from Adelaide (QF1288) on the same day.
But skip forward to the week starting April 3, and things change. The A220-300 is scheduled to operate 13 round-trips on the Adelaide – Brisbane city pair that week. When the full deployment is complete, Qantas estimates the A220 will add around an extra 100,000 seats annually to its operations at Adelaide Airport.
A220 well suited to the Adelaide - Brisbane route
Qantas has almost 300 departures per week from Adelaide Airport to 13 airports around Australia. Ahead of the first A220 deployments there, the airline services the city with a mix of DHC-8-Q400, E190-100AR, and B737-800 aircraft.
“We’re excited to bring the aircraft to Adelaide,” said QantasLink CEO Mark Dal Pra. “With more aircraft on the way, customers will continue to see these new aircraft expand across more routes and destinations.”
With the recent delivery of VH-X4J (msn 55409) and VH-X4K (msn 55417), Qantas now has eleven A220-300s in its fleet and flies the plane to and from Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD), Brisbane (BNE), Canberra (CBR), Hobart (HBA), Launceston (LST), Coffs Harbour (CFS), Hamilton Island (HTI), Sunshine Coast (MCY), and Alice Springs(ASP) Airports. In February, it will start operating on the Brisbane – Wellington (WLG) route.
When Qantas has taken delivery of its full complement of A220-300s, it will operate 29 of the type. All should be delivered by the end of 2027.
Photo: Qantas.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com.