“lower noise profile is great news for communities surrounding the airport considering many of our departures are early in the morning.”Have they ever heard an E2 taxi? You can hear the whale howl from miles away and it’s not quiet what so ever.

Probably the only airline that couldn’t turn a profit from the ATR, it was so poorly utilised. I doubt they’ll jump back into proper regional routes any time in the near or distant future. 

Reading these comments make it comically obvious people just look at the pictures, don’t understand why they chose the XLR for domestic flights and ignore the fact they’ve ordered more for proper international flights with lie flat seats. 

If I wanted that sort of crap I would fly Air Asia X or Scoot. Oh wait, their seats recline. EKs target market isn't ultra budget backpackers and bargain hunters, people have an expectation of Emirates they have to live up to and people are happy to pay for it. 

QFlink have flown to Wellington, and currently serve Solomon Islands and Timor Leste so it's not the first the a Qantas link flight has been to an international destination at all.