Alliance Airlines has operated Embraer E190 flights on behalf of Qantas, under the QantasLink brand, since 2021. These regional jets now operate on 18 Qantas routes.

The E190 is popular with passengers as it offers a high level of on-board comfort. The aircraft has also been great for Qantas as it has opened up many new domestic routes that it could not operate economically with larger Boeing 737s, such as Canberra-Darwin.

Qantas previously served other present-day E190 routes like Adelaide-Canberra with larger aircraft, but fewer times per day. The smaller E190, with lower operating costs, allows Qantas to offer more frequent service.

“The E190 is a perfect mid-size regional jet for routes like these ones in northern Australia. It has longer range than our 717s and it’s about half the size of our 737s, which means the economics work well on longer flights between cities and towns outside of the top five population centres,” QantasLink CEO John Gissing said when the E190 services were first announced in February 2021.

“Instead of one or two flights a day with a larger aircraft, we can offer three or four flights a day on the E190, which gives customers in these cities a lot more choice about when they travel.”

Qantas’ agreement with Alliance Airlines

These flights are operated by Alliance Airlines but sold as QantasLink flights. They all have a “QF” flight number between QF1880-1995, such as QF1915. An exception is the international Darwin-Dili flight, which is numbered as QF350/351.

If you’re a Qantas Frequent Flyer member, you can earn and redeem points on these Alliance-operated services – just as you would for any other Qantas flight.

Many of the Alliance Airlines E190s used for Qantas services are painted in QantasLink colours, although a few planes remain in Alliance Airlines livery.

Alliance Airlines doesn’t just use its E190s exclusively for QantasLink flights. The jets operate a mixture of Qantas routes and Alliance Airlines’ own routes, such as Adelaide-Olympic Dam. They may even operate a mix of Qantas and Alliance Airlines marketed flights on the same day.

Under the current agreement with Qantas, Alliance Airlines will operate up to 18 Embraer E190s on Qantas routes for around three years. It’s expected that this flying will be gradually replaced from next year with QantasLink Airbus A220 service.

Complete list of Qantas Embraer E190 routes

Here’s a full list of Qantas routes currently operated by Alliance Airlines Embraer E190s in 2023:

• Adelaide-Alice Springs
• Adelaide-Brisbane
• Adelaide-Cairns
• Adelaide-Canberra
• Adelaide-Darwin
• Adelaide-Gold Coast
• Adelaide-Newcastle
• Adelaide-Townsville
• Alice Springs-Darwin
• Brisbane-Cairns
• Brisbane-Canberra
• Brisbane-Mackay
• Brisbane-Townsville
• Canberra-Darwin
• Cairns-Darwin
• Darwin-Dili
• Melbourne-Townsville
• Sydney-Townsville

For those who prefer a visual representation, here’s a map with all of the current Qantas E190 routes:

Qantas was also using E190s between Brisbane and Darwin until March 2023. However, Qantas recently replaced the E190s with Boeing 737-800s on this route ahead of the top end’s peak winter tourist season.

What’s it like flying on the Qantas Embraer E190?

The Embraer E190 is a great aircraft for short-haul flying. With a comfortable 2-2 layout in Economy, there are no middle seats on the plane! Business Class also features a unique 1-2 layout, with solo window seats on one side of the plane.

There’s quite a high ratio of Business to Economy class seats on the E190 – which is also good news if you like to use your Qantas points to upgrade your flight. With 9 or 10 Business and only 84 Economy seats on the plane, there are often lots of Business seats available for upgrades (and not that many Economy passengers competing for those seats).

There’s no in-flight wifi or seat-back entertainment screens. But Qantas has installed in-flight streaming entertainment that you can view on your own device on some of these jets.

These aircraft were delivered second-hand to Alliance Airlines. Many were previously in service for Panama’s Copa Airlines. Others came from Helvetic Airways in Switzerland or American Eagle, a regional subsidiary of American Airlines. Alliance Airlines hasn’t made major changes to the aircraft interiors.

On board, the service and catering is basically identical to what you’d get on a Qantas flight. The flight attendants are employed by Alliance Airlines but wear Qantas uniforms.

Read our Qantas E190 Business Class review for more information about the Business Class service.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.