Qantas Airlines, Australia's largest airline, have announced from 4 March 2013 they will commence direct flights between Sydney and the Queensland city of Gladstone, a major mining centre. Qantas will also increase capacity on some regional New South Wales routes.
The new Sydney to Gladstone service will operate eight times a week. The service will be operated by Qantas affiliate Qantaslink utilising the 74 seat Dash 8 Q400 aircraft. Qantaslink will offer almost 1200 seats a week on the route.
With addition of the new service Qantas will offer six ports directly from Gladstone - Sydney, Brisbane, Mackay, Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns.
QantasLink also announced increased capacity across several key NSW routes:
• Dubbo - QantasLink will upgrade eight return services between Dubbo and Sydney from a 50 seat Q300 aircraft to a 74-seat Q400 aircraft. This will result in 384 additional seats offered on the route each week.
• Port Macquarie - Customers will be able to access an extra 88 seats each week for services between Port Macquarie and Sydney as a result of three Q300 aircraft services being upgraded to a Q400 aircraft.
• Wagga Wagga - On Sundays QantasLink will upgrade one return service from a 50 seat Q300 aircraft to a 74 seat Q400 aircraft.
http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/media-releases/sep-2012/5447/global/en for a copy of Qantas media release