Key Details

Date: 6th August 2023

Flight No: QF1859

Route: Kalgoorlie to Perth

Aircraft: Airbus A320

Cabin: Economy

The Route

The route between Kalgoorlie and Perth is one of the busiest intra-state flights within Western Australia with both Virgin Australia and QantasLink operating flights on the routes. The flight takes around an hour to cover the approximately 600km journey from WA’s goldfield capital to the capital of Perth. Flight frequency varies quite a lot depending on the day of the week but typically there are at least two daily return services operated by both Virgin Australia who operate Airbus A320 aircraft on the route and QantasLink who operate a mixture of Fokker 100 and Airbus A320 aircraft. Both airlines also occasionally deploy Boeing 737 aircraft on the route swell.

Despite a seemingly strong presence of both Virgin Australia and QantasLink on the route prices are generally not that competitive with prices rarely falling below $200 each way for a one way flight that typically takes less than a hour. You can however find pretty good reward seat availability on this route with the flight been redeemed as a Qantas Classic Flight Reward which relieved 8,000 pts from my Frequent Flyer balance although a rather hefty $68 in tax still had to be paid.

Considering the relatively high cash prices for flights on this route travellers may wish to consider taking the Prospector train which while is a 7 hour journey is a pretty enjoyable one and is much more affordable at only $98.40 with generous discounts available for eligible concession holders.

Checking in at Kalgoorlie Airport

Check in and bag drop at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport is very much done the old fashioned way for both Qantas and Virgin Australia customers. There are no kiosks or self service bag drop here and there really isn’t much need for it in my opinion!

Upon entering the compact (although rather big for WA regional airport standards) Kalgoorlie Airport you’ll find a small check in hall at the left hand side of the termianl. As with other Qantas domestic flights you are free to check in online and proceed straight to the gate if you don’t have any checked luggage otherwise there are several manned counters where you can drop off your bag (and still check in if need be). Despite a small que when I arrived the Qantas check in agents handled it very efficiently and I had my bags dropped and ready to go back to Perth in only a few minutes.

There is certainly no need to get to this airport early although as I did I got there around 2 hours early dropping of my bag and then going for a walk around the surrounding area of Kalgoorlie Airport which provided some nice close up plane spotting action!

The Kalgoorlie Airport is rather compact although there is a small Qantas Regional Lounge for eligible passengers and a small cafe and bar before security. There are also several car hire counters. To get on a jet service out of Kalgoorlie there is a small departure waiting area after security screening although you only really need to go through just before boarding commences.

Seating in Economy Class

QantasLink’s Airbus A320 aircraft are quickly becoming a very dominant aircraft type of the airline’s intra-state WA flights although the Fokker 100 aircraft and Boeing 717 aircraft are also used in WA. QantasLink Airbus A320 aircraft are essentially old Jetstar aircraft so there is no business class offered on board this aircraft. Being ex Jetstar aircraft it is no surprise that legroom is tight with an average 71-76.2cm (28-30in) pitch, 7.62cm (3in) seat recline and 45.2cm (18in) seat width which is noticeably less than Qantas’s Boeing 737 aircraft which are themselves not overally spacious.

The seats themselves are actually that reasonably comfortable black leather livery although leg-room is noticeably tight and might be bothersome on some of the longer intra-state WA flights. With this flight from Kalgoorlie being less than an hour and very empty (Qantas were putting on many extra services for Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum meaning flights coming back were largely empty) I had literally a third of the whole aircraft to myself so room wasn’t an issue!

On the aircraft you’ll find 180 straight up economy seats in a standard 3-3 configuration with extra leg room seats in rows 12 and 13 which can be reserved for $15 in advance subject to availability. All regular economy seats can be reserved free of charge for Qantas Frequent Flyer members.

Entertainment

Whilst QantasLink are apparently rolling out their fairly solid ‘stream to your own device’ entertainment system across all its QantasLink Jet aircraft including the Airbus A320 there was no mention of it being available on today’s very short flight although to be honest it would be unlikely many people would find the time to need it on such a short full service flight. There is however the in-flight magazine which may just provide some light reading to tie you over for the short flight back to Perth. Otherwise the views out the window as the sun set over the Goldfields were arguably the best entertainment on this flight!

Inflight Service and Food and Beverage

Today’s twilight flight back to Perth really lived up to a strong example of QantasLink excelling in-flight service offering. The crew were really friendly and efficient and for the short flight we were offered a reasonably decent snack platter consisting of corn chips, pretzels and and salsa dip and this was accompanied by your choice of soft dink, beer or wine. Being such an empty flight crew even came around offering both seconds for the snack and alcoholic drinks which is very impressive for a flight which barely spent a few minutes at cruising altitude!

Arriving into Perth

Despite out inbound aircraft into Kalgoorlie arriving nearly half an hour late, the very quiet return pax load and favourable weather conditions made for a very quick turnaround and we finally landed into Perth only 5 minutes behind scheduled just after 6pm local time. Qantas operate out of Terminal 3 and 4 out of Perth Airport under which the Qantas Group has exclusive use of. We parked up at a remote Terminal 3 bay requiring disembarkation via the stairs and a short walk along an undercover walkway to get into fairly quiet early Sunday evening Perth Airport Terminal 3.

Summing Up:

Overall today’s flight was a short but great QantasLink experience everything from the in flight crew and ground handling at Kalgoorlie really contributed to uneventful but pleasant experience. It is handy that there is plentiful reward seat availability on this route however as cash ares on this route can be quite steep and uncompetive with strong demand coming in from a cashed-up mining sector. Whilst the Airbus A320 aircraft is more than adequate for short intrastate WA flights there is however no denying that they are among the most inferior aircraft in Qantas’s fleet with a lack of business class and tight economy class seating which was originally purposed for budget carrier Jetstar. So whilst today’s experience was absolutely top-notch it is still important to take this into consideration when Qantas are typically charging skyrocketing prices for its intra-state flights within WA.