* Flight ticketed by Qantas and operated by Alliance Airlines aircraft, in Qantaslink colours *
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Where did I fly on this flight?
Qantaslink Embraer 190
Booking the Flight & Cost of the Flight
This flight was booked as part of a multi-ticket. The Canberra to Darwin sector cost me $448 for an economy class ticket. When this seasonal flight is operating (it is not a year-round service), an economy-class Qantas flight from Canberra to Darwin averages from about $500 for an economy 'Red E-Deal' ticket, and started from $1,300 for a business class ticket. I booked the flight on the Qantas website which was fairly easy to use, but I found the website to be a little slow to process the different booking pages.
This would be my second attempt at flying on this interesting route, having an original ticket get cancelled on me a few months earlier. At the time of the flight, there was only one flight that departed from an Australian territory and arrived in another Australian territory without landing in an Australian state, and I started to call this flight the 'Territory Hopper' because of this. If only this name caught on.
Operating Aircraft
The Territory Hopper service on this evening was operated by 15-year-old Embraer 190-100IGW VH-XVO, the 119th Embraer 190 to be built by Embraer. Built in 2007, the aircraft was first delivered to US Airways in the United States of America in October of that year and carried the registration N952UW. It was painted in American Airlines colours at some stage in 2016 after US Airways merged into American Airlines, and flew for American Airlines before being withdrawn from service in April2020. It was in storage for a while before moving to Australia in December 2022. It was delivered to Alliance Airlines and re-registered VH-XVO; entered service in Australia in February 2023, and operates for Qantaslink on behalf of Alliance Airlines. The aircraft is powered by two General Electric GE CF34-10E6 engines. The aircraft was clean and appeared to have been looked after quite well.
Cabin This was a fairly empty flight with a load factor of about 52%, which may explain why this flight is operated on a seasonal basis, I had the whole of my row free. The cabin was spotless and clean. There were lots of spare seats throughout the aircraft, meaning people spread out and relaxed. The interior is unchanged from its operational history in the United States of America.
Seating
I chose to sit in seat 13A for this flight, located two rows behind the overwing exit. On this Qantaslink Embraer 190, there is a business class cabin at the front of the aircraft consisting of nine leather seats in a 1-2 configuration making three rows. The seats are made from leather with a seat pitch of 38 inches and a seat width of 20 inches. In economy class, all the remaining 88 seats are in rows 4-25, are made of leather and are in a 2-2 configuration, featuring a seat pitch of 31 inches and a seat width of 18 inches. It is apparent that the configuration and seats are the same as they were when the aircraft flew for American Airlines. The seat was very comfortable to sit on and had more than enough legroom, but the headrest was quite low and needed to be adjusted, otherwise the seat stopeed just on the back of my neck. It was a good wing view out the window.
Inflight Customer Service
Alliance Airlines flight attendants served us on this flight. They were very friendly to the passengers and served the passengers with big smiles all around. The flight attendants are Alliance Airlines staff, but wear Qantas uniforms on Qantaslink-operated flights such as this one. They provided great service to all of the passengers. I spent a bit of time during the flight chatting to them; the crew were all based in Adelaide and knew me as I work with them in Adelaide Airport.
Inflight Entertainment
On this aircraft there was no seatback TV screen or a USB port. In the seat pocket was a Qantas magazine; the aircraft's safety card and air sickness bags. Qantas' Q-Streaming app is starting to be an option on Embraer 190 flights, but was not available on this flight. VH-XVO, as well as the other Qantaslink Embraer 190s, is not inflight Wi-Fi enabled. The magazine seemed fresh. My inflight entertainment consisted of doing things on my laptop, listening to music on my phone and chatting with the crew.
Photos
The operating aircraft sitting at Canberra Airport's gate 9 after arriving from Darwin on the eastbound Territory Hopper as flight QF1984
Views whilst boarding through the jetway, due to operational reasons, boarding can only be executed through the front on Alliance Airlines / Qantaslink Embraer 190 flights
Business class seats
Economy class seats
Legroom
Seat 13A
Taxiing to the runway for takeoff
Taxiing to the runway for takeoff, captured by Zac Mathes
Takeoff from runway 35
Cabin
This flight happened during the Australian / southern hemisphere winter, once the lights of Canberra disappear, there will be nothing to see but pitch black darkness
Inflight dinner - shepherd's pie with parmesan crumb and choice of beverage
Qantaslink Embaer 190 lavatory tour
Inflight at 36,000 feet
Cabin, viewed from the rear of the aircraft
Second round of snacks about two hours in, all complimentary. Cheesy rice crackers and a KitKat chocolate bar with another choice of beverage
Inflight at 38,000 feet, with the flashing strobes being the only thing to watch
Descending into Darwin Airport, after almost 4 hours and 30 minutes in the air, the distant lights of suburban Darwin is a huge relief
Landing onto runway 29
Docked at gate 4
View whilst disembarking
VH-XVO getting tucked into bed just shy of midnight in Australia's Top End
Summary
While it lasted, it was great to be able to cross the country using only territories, as a fan of geography and anomalies related to this, I was thrilled I had finally done this feat. The service was top-notch, the seat was comfortable and it was a bonus that the flight was empty, which meant there was even more room in the cabin to spread out and relax. I always like flying on the Embraer 190s, but to be honest, there are slightly better aircraft products out there that would be better-suited to a flight of this duration. At 4 hours and 33 minutes from takeoff to touchdown and approixmately 3,165 kilometres flown, this was the longest Embraer 190 flight in Australia, and up there with one of the longest domestic routes in the country. Having inflight Wi-Fi or a streaming service available would be ideal to provide extra means of inflight entertainment. Since the time that I flew onboard the 'Territory Hopper', the route lasted about a month longer until the route was dropped, which at the time of writing has not flown since, meaning that flying across mainland Australia via territories only is not possible. It is unknown as to whether the flight will return, Qantas seems to have a habit of pulling flight schedules out of thin air and then switching them off again just as quickly as they start. All up, this was a great flight for the most part on the Alliance Airlines / Qantaslink Embraer 190, it was just way too long in my opinion.
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