It’s the first in a multi-million dollar refurbishment of the airline’s 45-strong fleet of Bombardier Q200, Q300 and Q400 aircraft, which is expected to be finished by 2019.

The upgrade includes new ergonomic seat cushioning, leather upholstery, tablet device holders, a refreshed colour palette of greys and charcoals, and new floor coverings.

It takes up to 13 engineers and support staff about 10 days to upgrade each aircraft. The work is timed to coincide with scheduled maintenance and closely aligns the turboprop interiors with those in the QantasLink jet fleet.

QantasLink CEO John Gissing said the plane would be in the air and back in the network within hours of the refurbishment being completed.

“I’m very privileged to be going back to Sydney on that aircraft in about an hour,” Mr Gissing said.

“The first one is always special, we learn a lot through the first process. The second one came in to the hangar next door on the weekend and it will start its process today.”

At least the first 15 will be upgraded at Tamworth, with a decision to be made on the remaining aircraft in the coming months.

“Until we understand the details of the logistics later on in the year, we held back on announcing where they will be going,” Mr Gissing said.

“Ideally we’d like to see them all done here, but sometimes that’s just not possible.”