History of Qantas

Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an acronym/initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport. It is Australia's largest airline, and the second oldest in the world. Qantas headquarters are located in the Qantas Centre in the Mascot suburb of the City of Botany Bay, Sydney, New South Wales.

Currently the airline is considered a four-star airline by research consultancy firm Skytrax. In 2010, Qantas was voted the seventh best airline in the world by the firm, a drop from 2009 (sixth), 2008 (third), 2007 (fifth), 2006 (second), and 2005 (second).

History of Qantas

Qantas is Australia's largest airline and one of the oldest airlines in the world. Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited by Paul McGuiness, Hudson Fysh, Fergus McMaster and Arthur Baird. Initially the airline operated air mail services subsidised by the Australian government, linking railheads in western Queensland. Between 1926 and 1928 Qantas built several aircraft in Longreach and made the inaugural flight of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, departing from Cloncurry. Qantas Empire Airways Limited (QEA) was formed by Qantas and Britain's Imperial Airways in 1934. They flew internationally from May 1935, when the service from Darwin was extended to Singapore. As operations expanded with flying boat service World War disrupted air travel until 1943. In 1947, QEA was nationalised, with the Australian Labor government buying the shares. In the same year the airline took delivery of Lockheed 749 Constellations and these took over the trunk route to London. In 1958, Qantas became the second round-the-world airline, flying Super Constellations westward from Australia to London through Asia and the Middle East.

In 1956, Qantas ordered the Boeing 707-138 jet airliner and the first was delivered in June 1959. The first jet service operated by Qantas was on 29 July 1959 from Sydney to San Francisco via Nadi and Honolulu. On 5 September 1959 Qantas became the third airline to fly jets across the North Atlantic. In 1966, the airline diversified its business by opening the 450 room Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. In 1967, the airline placed orders for the Boeing 747 and Qantas Empire Airways changed its name to Qantas Airways. When Cyclone Tracy devastated the town of Darwin at Christmas 1974, Qantas established a world record for the most people ever embarked on a single aircraft when it evacuated 673 people on a single Boeing 747 flight. In March 1979, Qantas operated its final Boeing 707 flight from Auckland to Sydney, and became the only airline in the world to have a fleet that consisted of Boeing 747s only.

The Boeing 747 fleet was upgraded from 1989 with the arrival of the new Boeing 747-400 series. The delivery flight of the first 747-400 was a world record for commercial aircraft, flying the 18,001 kilometres (11,185 mi) from London to Sydney non-stop. The Australian Government sold the domestic carrier Australian Airlines to Qantas in August 1992. This provided Qantas access to the Australian domestic market for the first time in its history. Qantas was privatised in March 1993. Qantas ordered twelve Airbus A380-800s in 2000 and was soon the third airline to receive A380s, after Singapore Airlines and Emirates. The airline created a new cut-price subsidiary airline, Jetstar Airways after Virgin Blue expanded in October 2001. On 13 December 2004, the first flight of Jetstar Asia Airways took off from its Singapore hub to Hong Kong, marking Qantas' entry into the Asian cut-price market.

Today Qantas operates a significant number of international flights into and out of Singapore Changi, Auckland Airport, Brisbane Airport, Los Angeles International and London Heathrow airports. Qantas has been one of the most profitable airlines in the world. In 2008, the first Qantas Airbus A380 was handed over by Airbus at a ceremony on 19 September. The first route for the A380 was Melbourne to Los Angeles.

Qantas headquarters are located in the Qantas Centre in the Mascot suburb of the City of Botany Bay, Sydney, New South Wales.

In 1920 Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd had its headquarters in Winton, Queensland. In 1921 the head office moved to Longreach, Queensland. In 1930 the head office moved to Brisbane. In 1957 a head head office, Qantas House, opened along Hunter Street in Sydney. In the 1970s a new A$50 million headquarters, consisting of twin skyscrapers, was being built in Sydney and expected to take one city block.The first and largest tower had an expected completion time in 1973.

Qantas, through its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programme, has some links with the Aboriginal Australian community. As of 2007, the company has run the programme for more than ten years and 1–2% of its staff are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Qantas employs a full time Diversity Coordinator, who is responsible for the programme.

Qantas has also bought and donated some Aboriginal Art. In 1993, the airline bought a painting — Honey Ant and Grasshopper Dreaming — from the Central Australian desert region. As of 2007, this painting is on permanent loan to Yiribana at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 1996, Qantas donated five extra bark paintings to the gallery. Qantas has also sponsored and supported Aboriginal artists in the past.

Qantas used a small promotional animation on its website to announce it will offer in-flight internet services on its fleet of A380s. Qantas' present long-running advertising campaign features renditions by children's choirs of Peter Allen's "I Still Call Australia Home", set to footage of Australian scenery. A much earlier campaign aimed at American television audiences featured an Australian koala, who detested Qantas for bringing tourists to destroy his quiet life (his key tagline: "I hate Qantas"). Qantas is the main and shirt sponsor of the "Qantas Wallabies", the Australian national Rugby Union team. They also sponsor and have shirt rights to the Socceroos, Australia's national football team. Qantas is now the sponsor for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix. It last sponsored the Australian Grand Prix in 2001. For many years between 1994 until 2004, Qantas sponsorship logos appeared at the credits for Neighbours, Wheel Of Fortune, Hey Hey It's Saturday (as its' sponsor), originally under the banner of We choose to fly.... These replaced earlier sponsorship under the Australian Airlines brand in 1994.

Qantas moved from an in-house Passenger Service System known as QUBE (Qantas Universal Business Environment) to an outsourced solution provided by Amadeus in late 2000. In September 2007 Qantas announced a ten year extension of the outsourcing agreement. In addition to using Amadeus' Altéa platform for reservation and inventory management Qantas extended usage of the system by adopting the departure control module in February 2008.

First class is offered only on the Boeing 747–400 and Airbus A380.

On the Boeing 747–400, first class is in the form of flat bed sleeping pods with 79 in seat pitch with each seat being 22 in wide. It folds flat to form a 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) fully flat bed. Other features include a 26 cm (10.4 in) touch screen monitor with 400 AVOD programs and personal 110 V AC power outlets in every seat. Qantas offers 14 seats on all the 747-400s equipped with first class.

On the Airbus A380, Qantas offers 14 individual suites, with 83.5 in seat pitch (extending to a 212 cm fully flat bed) and a width of 29 in. Each suite has a 43 cm (17 in) wide screen HD monitor with 1000 AVOD programs. In addition to the 110 V AC power outlets offered on the 747-400, USB ports are also offered for connectivity. Passengers are also able to make use of the on-board business lounge on the upper deck.

Complimentary access to either the first class or business class lounges (or affiliated lounges) is offered.

Business class is offered on all Qantas mainline passenger aircraft. International Business Class is available on the Boeing 747, some International Airbus A330-200s, the A330-300 and the Airbus A380. On the Boeing 747, seating is in a 2-3-2 configuration on the main deck and a 2–2 configuration on the upper deck. The A330 features a 2-2-2 configuration. The lie-flat Skybeds feature 60 in of seat pitch and 21.5 in width. 747s and A330s features a 26 cm (10.4 in) touch screen monitor with 400 AVOD programs. Qantas' new international business class product is featured on the Airbus A380. It features 72 fully flat Skybed seats with 80 in seat pitch (converting to a 200 cm long bed). These seats are located on the upper-deck in a 2-2-2 configuration in 2 separate cabins. features include a 30 cm touch screen monitor with 1000 AVOD programs and an on-board lounge. On the internationally configured Boeing 767, seating is in a 1-2-2 configuration, which include a 13 cm monitor with 10 channels of video and 12 channels of audio.

Complimentary access to the Qantas business class lounge (or affiliated lounges) is also offered.

Premium economy class is only available on Airbus A380 and certain Boeing 747–400 aircraft. It has a seat pitch of 38 in on the Boeing 747 & it ranges between 38-42 in on the Airbus A380, with a width of 19.5 in. On the Boeing 747, it is configured in a 2-4-2 seating arrangement around the middle of the main deck, whilst it is in a 2-3-2 at the rear of the upper deck on the A380. All A380's have 32 seats.

Qantas premium economy is presented as a lighter business class product rather than most other airlines' premium economy, often presented as a higher economy class.

Economy class is available on all Qantas mainline passenger aircraft.

Seat pitch is usually 31 inches (790 mm) and seat width ranges from 17 to 17.5 inches (440 mm). Layouts are 3-3 on the 737, 2-3-2 on the 767, 2-4-2 on the A330 and 3-4-3 on the 747. On the A380, the layout is 3-4-3 and there are 4 self-service snack bars located in between cabins.

Members are permitted to enter domestic Qantas Clubs when flying on Qantas or Jetstar flights along with one guest who need not be travelling. Internationally, the guest must be travelling with the member. When flying with American Airlines, members have access to Admirals Club lounges and when flying on British Airways, members have access to the Terraces Lounge.

Platinum Frequent Flyers had previously been able to access The Qantas Club in Australian domestic terminals at any time, regardless of whether they are flying that day.

Travellers holding Oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status are also welcome in Qantas Club lounges worldwide.