In 1994 Southern Australia's air ambulance contract was renewed for another five years. Its fleet was expanded in December 1996 when it took delivery of two British Aerospace BAe 146s, using them to commence operations on trunk routes from Hobart and Launceston to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. In 1998 Southern Australia withdrew from the Mildura - Broken Hill route in July, and from Mildura to Adelaide via Renmark in October, and the two airline Cessna 404s were taken out of service. The air ambulance contract and aircraft were taken over by the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia from 1 November that year. By the end of 1997, Sunstate added another Dash 8 and more Short 360s, so that it was operating four of the former and eight of the latter, along with the five Twin Otters, to a network of 21 destinations in Queensland and New South Wales (including to Newcastle, New South Wales from May). The following year the Twin Otters and three Short 360s were withdrawn after Qantas sold the portfolio of islands in the Great Barrier Reef it had inherited from Australian Airlines (Brampton Island, Dunk Island, Great Keppel Island and Lizard Island); and a DHC-8-200 was added. 2000–present In 2001, both Sunstate and Southern Australia (as well as Eastern Australia Airlines, Impulse Airlines and National Jet Systems' Airlink operation) were rebranded as QantasLink, though each entity retained a certain amount of independence. The Southern Australia name subsequently disappeared when it was absorbed into Eastern Australia Airlines. Also in 2001 Sunstate began re-equipping with the Q300 version of the Dash 8. It eventually received six Q300s and disposed of its remaining Short 360s, thereby achieving an all-Dash 8 fleet. In 2006 Sunstate took delivery of seven Bombardier Dash 8 Q400. Five were placed in service on its Queensland routes, while two were used to commence new services between Sydney and Canberra. The Q400 fleet has since expanded and smaller variants of the Dash 8 have been progressively withdrawn from service to accommodate the increased capacity of the Q400. Destinations From Brisbane Albury (seasonal) Barcaldine Blackall Bundaberg Cairns Canberra Charleville Cooma (seasonal) Emerald Gladstone Hamilton Island Hervey Bay Longreach Mackay Moranbah Newcastle Rockhampton Roma Townsville From Cairns Hamilton Island Horn Island Mackay Moranbah Port Moresby Rockhampton Townsville Weipa From Townsville Cloncurry Mount Isa Mackay Rockhampton Brisbane From Melbourne Devonport Launceston Mildura From Sydney Cooma (seasonal) Canberra Toowoomba