Eastern Australia Airlines was founded by Jim Packer as
Tamworth Air Taxi Service that was later abbreviated to
Tamair. It commenced operations on 11 August 1949. In 1978, renamed
Eastern Coast Airlines, it commenced regulat public transport operations. In 1984,
East-West Airlines purchased a 26% shareholding, with it renamed Eastern Airlines. After
Ansett Transport Industries purchased East-West Airlines, the
Trade Practices Commission ruled that East-West sell its now 36% shareholding. John Roworth held the remaining shares. In July 1988 East-West's shareholding was purchased by
Australian Airlines with the airline renamed Eastern Australia Airlines. In 1991 Australian Airlines became the sole owner. At this stage it operated nine
Dash 8 and
Jetstream 31s serving
Armidale,
Brisbane,
Canberra,
Cooma,
Devonport,
Glen Inness,
Gold Coast,
Grafton,
Launceston,
Lord Howe Island,
Melbourne,
Moree,
Narrabri,
Newcastle,
Port Macquarie,
Sydney,
Tamworth and
Taree. In September 1992 Eastern Australia Airlines became a subsidiary of
Qantas after it took over Australian Airlines. In 2002 Qantas merged
Southern Australia Airlines into Eastern Australia Airlines. In August 2008, it was announced that Eastern Australia would shortly commence operating 72-seat
Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft on services to regional centres in New South Wales, supplementing services with smaller 50-seat Dash 8s and allowing the removal of 36-seat Dash 8s from service on some routes altogether with the retirement of all 100 series Dash 8s. In June 2015, Qantas announced that Eastern Australia would operate regional services in New Zealand, using
Jetstar-branded
Bombardier Dash 8 turboprops. In October 2019, Jetstar withdrew from regional flying in New Zealand citing soft demand, higher fuel costs and a loss making operation. Following the withdrawal, the five Jetstar branded Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft were transferred back to Australia. On 25 June 2024, Qantas announced an order for 14 mid-life Dash 8-400 (Q400) aircraft to be operated by fellow QantasLink airline,
Sunstate. This will begin the phasing out of the Q200 and Q300 aircraft, with the fleet replacement leading to all aircraft being retired from the Eastern Australia fleet. On 8 August 2025, QantasLink operated its last flight with the Q300; it flew between Tamworth and Sydney as flight QF2003. To commemorate the retirement of the Q300, QantasLink operated flight QLK300, a celebratory flight for staff and crew, where the aircraft completed a scenic flight over
Sydney and the
Harbour Bridge. Following this flight, Eastern is no longer the registered operator of any aircraft on behalf of Qantas, with all regional turboprop flights operated by
Sunstate Airlines Q400 aircraft. ==Destinations==