Sunshine Express Airlines

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Sunshine Express Airlines

IATA CQ	ICAO EXL	Callsign "Sea"
Founded		October 1998
Fleet size		Fairchild Metro
Destinations		Brisbane, Biloela, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Hervey Bay, Maryborough, Sunshine Coast, Tamworth, Armidale.
Headquarters		Brisbane Sunshine Coast Airport, Queensland, Australia
Key people		Steve Padgett
Website: http://www.sunshineexpress.com.au

Sunshine Express Airlines is a small regional airline which served many regional destinations on the East Coast of Australia, from Hervey Bay to Port Macquarie. Based on the Sunshine Coast, it is one of the major employers at the airport and is a Qantas partner airline. Sunshine Express ceased all scheduled operations at the end of September 2006 and has decided to concentrate on charter operations. [1]

1 Code Data
2 History
3 Services
4 Fleet
5 External links
6 References
7 See also

[edit] Code Data

IATA Code: CQ
ICAO Code: EXL ^[1]
Callsign:"Sea"

[edit] History

Established in October 1998, Sunshine Express Airlines was founded by one of Australias aviation leaders, Steve Padgett, to serve many regional routes, mainly out of the Sunshine Coast. Aeromil, also founded by Steve Padgett, is Sunshine Express' parent company and also has a base at Sunshine Coast Airport.

In their first year, Sunshine Express carried over 24,000 passengers between just two destinations ^[2] and today carries almost 100,000 passengers. Prior to closure of its scheduled routes, Sunshine Express employed over 40 people and was a Qantas partner airline.

[edit] Services

Although based on the Sunshine Coast, the majority of its services were from/to Brisbane.

The operated routes were (before 1 October 2006):

Brisbane - Biloela
Brisbane - Coffs Harbour - Port Macquarie
Brisbane - Hervey Bay
Brisbane - Maryborough
Brisbane - Tamworth - Armidale

Sunshine Express ceased all scheduled flights from 1 October 2006 to focus on charter operations. Hervey Bay and Biloela are now served by QantasLink. Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie are now served by Brindabella Airlines. Maryborough, Armidale and Tamworth no longer have direct air service to Brisbane.