#51 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
31 reviews
I grabbed a bus from the city centre of Canberra that went straight to the Airport. I was the only passenger on this bus funnily enough, no one else boarded or exited!
Before long the driver had us at the end of the line- Canberra Airport, and it was off to the main airport terminal to check my hold baggage and acquire a back up paper boarding pass, just in case of emergencies!
Canberra Airport is one of the smallest airports to serve a major capital city. The Airport mainly sees domestic flights from major bases for the airlines in Australia. The main people flying from Canberra are politicians from across Australia, as well as business travellers and people living in the area.
The airport has a very modern and grand design to it. Plenty of artwork can be found on the grounds of the Airport Terminal. Only Fiji Airways operate an international service here as of January 2024, Qatar Airways & Singapore Airlines did offer international services via other Australian cities, but they were abandoned during the pandemic. Hopefully Canberra Airport will acquire more international services in the future, though I was surprised by the omission of flights to New Zealand!
In the terminal building by check in there is a preserved Lockheed Hudson bomber formerly operated by the Australian Air Force during WW2, the aircraft is on loan from the Australia War Memorial, which is located in Canberra.
Overall the check in experience didn't take too long and it was nice to have a look around the landside area Canberra Airport before going airside, I was early so a good chance to grab a dinner in case I was unable to do so in Sydney.
I found a bar airside and it seemed quite quiet, so I opted to grab dinner there. My choice was a portion of chicken wings, cheese & bacon dirty fries and a pint of beer. Not very sophisticated, but I enjoyed it.
I opted to walk about the domestic section of the Canberra Airport. It looked very spacious, modern and clean with the design, the glass panels allowed for a lot of light to come in alongside the white and light grey colours used in the Terminal.
The Boeing 717-200 operating this short run between Canberra and Sydney was VH-YQX, this particular aircraft was built for the Greek airline Olympic Aviation in 1999 as SX-BOB, it then was transferred to Olympic Airlines until July 2007, when it was acquired for Spanair as EC-KHX. In late 2010 it was sold onto Blue1 of Finland where it operated 3rd party operations for SAS Scandinavian Airlines, registered as OH-BLN and adorned in Star Alliance livery, until the airline was acquired by CityJet and the Boeing 717's were retired and sold on. National Jet Systems acquired the jet in early 2016 and have operated it for QantasLink ever since as VH-YQX. Qantas also named the plane: Bouddi National Park.
OH-BLP representing the appearance OH-BLN would have had flying for Blue1 until October 2015, the actual aircraft can be seen bellow in its current visage as QantasLink VH-YQX.
Boarding began and I went down the jet bridge provided and took my place in Seat 17A, a bit further forward than my previous flight. This flight turned out to be quite patchy in economy class and I was lucky enough to secure both Seats 17A & 17B all to myself!
The push back and taxi went off without a hitch. It was a quick taxi to the end of the runway, as we entered the runway I got a good look at a Qantas Hanger for CBR Airport where two QantasLink Boeing 717s were under going maintenance, an Alliance Airlines Embraer ERJ was also parked up there, having been worked on or awaiting its turn in the hanger.
It was quite cloudy during this short flight from Canberra to Sydney, its the shortest domestic flight offered by Qantas and only takes about 55 minutes flying time if there is no delays getting into Sydney Kingford-Smith.
Whilst Boeing 717s currently operate the jet service, I assume that eventually the Airbus A220-300 and Embraer ERJ-190 will take over eventually by mid-2024. Dash 8 Q-400 operate the other services on this route, so you do have a choice.
The cabin crew managed to run a quick snack service which featured a cheese and crackers lunch snack as well as a choice of drinks- I opted for a bottle of water and a can of cola. Its nothing fancy, but its very ideal and practical for a short flight of less than 1hr.
During the latter stages of the flight before landing I opted to visit the loo, and I used this time to grab some cabin shots before returning to my seat for the final approach into a very miserable Sydney.
During the approach we flew in view of Sydney city itself, so despite the grim weather I was able to snap some cool pictures of Downtown Sydney and the Sydney Opera House.
We landed into Sydney Kingford-Smith and taxied over toward the domestic arrivals for Qantas and QantasLink flights, however we found ourselves stationed remote stand on the taxiway for 15-20 minutes due to an aircraft having not vacated our stand. It was also very busy at this time of arrival, so we couldn't go to another stand.
Considering it was more time on the Boeing 717, I wasn't too annoyed by the delay, but I am used to flying to/from London Heathrow & London Gatwick, so I know how busy airports can get.
After we got to pull onto the gate, I waited for the cabin to empty before grabbing some final cabin shots, a quick flight deck visit was granted as well, and much appreciated!
After exiting the plane, I took one last pic of the Boeing 717 from the gate, knowing that the end of an era is inevitably coming for these amazing aircraft. I was pleased to walk away from this trip having scored two flights on the QF 717s. Whether I see another "Mad-Dog" flight in the future, remains to be seen…
Overall a very nice experience from Qantas and their Boeing 717-200, Canberra Airport was a nice airport to transit through, I had no complaints except that small extended wait at Sydney Kingford-Smith at the end of the flight, which was beyond the control of the flight crew.
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