Onboard the Inaugural QantasLink/Alliance Embraer E190 to Adelaide

Flying on the first scheduled Qantas flight from Hobart to Adelaide

After being forced to cancel yet another trip due to Covid, I took the opportunity to book my first trip to Adelaide, on the first Qantaslink flight, operated by Alliance Airlines on one of their brand new (second hand) Embraer E190s.

Flight Details
Airline	QantasLink op by Alliance Airlines
Aircraft Type	Embraer E190-100
Registration	VH-UYW
Aircraft Age	13.4 Years
Route	Hobart to Adelaide
Flight Number	QF1982
Date	24/09/2021

Qantas first announced the new route on the 25th of May this year, as part of a partnership between QantasLink and Alliance Airlines, with Alliance initially operating five of their 94 seat Embraer E190s recently acquired from Panamanian carrier Copa Airlines on behalf of the Qantas subsidiary. Interestingly, the aircraft retain their original cabin configuration, with 10 Business class seats and 84 economy, a much more premium heavy cabin than Qantas mainline’s 737s or QantasLink’s 717s.

Fellow Hobart spotter, and far better writer than I, Tom Goward was also booked on the September 24th flight, up the front in Business class, and was kind enough to get me into the Qantas Club before we boarded to Adelaide. As I completely forgot to get any pictures of it, you can read his 2019 lounge review on Point Hacks here, and his review from up the pointy end here.

Boarding was a fairly normal affair, with no mention being made of the significance of the flight, and I was soon sat up the back in seat 17A. Pushback was a little delayed for no apparent reason, but we eventually taxied out and took off into the clouds.

Service was begun shortly after takeoff by the Alliance employed cabin crew in Qantas uniform, but again, nothing special, just a bottle of water and a cookie. The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful, though it is worth noting that the E190s aren’t fitted with any form of in-flight entertainment or Wi-Fi, so I was glad to have brought a book (The Rainbow and the Rose by Neville Shute, for those wondering, an aviation based story set in Tasmania, I highly recommend it).

Descent into Adelaide wasn’t particularly bumpy, and the approach into ADL’s Runway 23 provided excellent views of the city, so don’t forget to watch the video below for the full flight. Adelaide is a pretty great airport for spotters, with an incredible terminal, and a massive variety of rarer aircraft types and airlines, so I was glued to the window as we taxied past Alliance Fokker 50s and Cobham’s ‘Whisperjets’.

After disembarking at Adelaide there were airport officials making sure everyone had the mySA GOV app to do QR check-ins, but SA Police arrival permissions were not checked, similar to arrival into Victoria. As I was only in Adelaide for a bit over 5 hours, I headed out Port Adelaide, to visit the South Australian Aviation Museum, before flying back that night on the evening Jetstar flight, I’ll have posts on these out over the next fortnight. I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip report, and don’t forget to check out my Instagram and YouTube, linked below.