SmartLynx Australia has said it is “firmly committed” to maintaining regional turboprop operations following its rebrand from Skytrans.
The Queensland-based regional airline, which was bought by global aviation firm Avia Solutions Group last year to add A319 wet-lease operations, changed its name in July and plans to drop the Skytrans livery for an all-white fleet.
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Despite its new focus on ACMI services, the airline says its scheduled passenger flights are here to stay, having recently taken over the Lord Howe Island route from QantasLink.
“Skytrans’ rebranding to SmartLynx Australia and expanding our service offering with ACMI is intended to strengthen our current charter and RPT services, not replace them,” chief executive Gytis Gumuliauskas said in a statement.
“We are here to support all Australian and Asia-Pacific markets when capacity is needed. That is exactly what being part of Avia Solutions Group allows us to do.”
SmartLynx currently operates two A319s alongside its fleet of 10 Dash 8s and says it is currently aiming to improve their reliability for RPT services. It had an on-time arrival rate of 79.6 percent, an on-time departure rate of 84.2 percent, and a cancellation rate of 2.2 percent for the month of September 2025.
“The SmartLynx Australia team has been working hard to improve performance across all metrics and, over the past six months, the results are starting to show the impact of that dedication,” Gumuliauskas said.
“We view these results as reassuring not only for passengers but also for airlines looking for options to expand their capacity.”
In May, the airline suspended its Cessna 208B flights to eleven islands in the Torres Strait, and Gumuliauskas said at the time that the decision was made to “mitigate the risks and complexity of having single-engine operations in combination with turboprops and jets.”
“The market has coverage of the Torres Strait with other operators. We are adapting the RPT network and schedules, but there are no other cuts planned in terms of fleet,” he stated, while reported by aviation-ch.
“We are looking to offer more capacity with our Dash 8 and A319-100 fleet to address the needs of the regional market and support other airlines, including regional flights.”
SmartLynx Australia received CASA approval for its ACMI services earlier this year, and its second A319 arrived in Australia in February after the first landed in December.
The airline is looking to use its A319s to increase passenger capacity for airline customers during peak seasons, as well as allow other regional airlines to test new routes and offer airlines a stopgap measure while their own planes are undergoing maintenance.
