Qantas keeps door open for Border and coastal connection amid fleet upgrade

QantasLink chief executive Rachel Yangoyan, who was on the Border on Tuesday, June 25, to announce upgrades to its existing fleet, said the airline was "always looking at different route opportunities".

Bonza had offered three return flights a week to the Sunshine Coast and two to the Gold Coast from Albury until its demise in April.

"QantasLink only had two overlapping routes (with Bonza) and across Qantas and Jetstar it's only six, but we'll continue to look at those opportunities as and when they come up," Ms Yangoyan said.

"Competition is really important and we understand that's important for customers and we really support competition in the market.

"It was disappointing that Bonza ended up where it did for everyone and we'll continue to maintain focus on providing ongoing services to our customers and remaining open and supportive to what we can do to support Bonza employees and the industry more broadly."

More passengers would be able to fly from Albury to Australia's two largest cities as Qantas prepares to upgrade its regional fleet in the second half of the year.

The airline will add 14 Q400 planes to regional routes, including Albury to Sydney and Melbourne, that can seat 74 to 78 passengers to replace existing Q300 aircraft that could only cater for 50.

Ms Yangoyan said the planes would be up to 10 years younger than the existing fleet.

"It will take us to a fleet of 45 Q400 aircraft, and we'll start to see the first of them arrive later this year," she said.

"The Q400 aircraft is larger, faster and more reliable."

Ms Yangoyan ruled out a return for the Albury-Adelaide route, meaning it would only continue to fly to Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney from the Border.

QantasLink upgraded its daily service from the Border city to Brisbane to an Embraer E190 jet aircraft, which can hold 94 passengers, 20 more than the Q400 that previously flew the route.

"Albury to Adelaide won't be reinstated at this point in time, this investment is really about us maintaining the network and schedule that we have in place today," she said.

"Our capacity across all of our markets will remain the same with this investment, but each route is a little bit different obviously with the time of day, seasonality and things like that change.

"You may see some days and peak times really full and other days and times where it's not so full.

"The 36-seat and 50-seat aircraft are getting older and we want to maintain and ensure we have ongoing viable services over the next decade as we await new technologies as they emerge."

Qantas revealed more than 25,000 passengers had used Jetstar and Qantas services at no cost since Bonza stopped flying two months ago and were provided seats on six overlapping routes or the closest alternative.