History of Qantas
Initially, the airline operated taxi and joy flights, as well as airmail 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.
The delivery flight of the first 747-400 was a world record for commercial aircraft, flying the 18,001 km (11,185 mi) from London to Sydney non-stop.
On 13 December 2004, the first flight of Jetstar Asia took off from its Singapore hub to Hong Kong, marking Qantas' entry into the Asian cut-price market.
Passengers received a certificate of membership to The Rare and Secret Order of the Double Sunrise as the sun rose twice during the westbound portion of the route.
On the next leg of the trip, they flew to Ratmalana, where the aircraft refuelled, then on to Karachi, where BOAC crews took over for the final segment of the journey to the UK.
[12][13][14] In 1947, QEA was nationalised, with the Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley buying the shares owned by BOAC, followed by those of QANTAS Limited.
[citation needed] Shortly after nationalisation, QEA began its first services outside the British Empire-to Tokyo via Darwin and Manila with Avro Lancastrian aircraft.
[16] In 1952 Qantas expanded services across the Indian Ocean to Johannesburg via Melbourne, Perth, the Cocos Islands, Réunion and Mauritius, calling this the Wallaby Route.
[17][18] Around this time, the British Government pressured Qantas to purchase the de Havilland Comet jet airliner, but Hudson Fysh was dubious about the economics of the aircraft and successfully resisted this.
On 5 September 1959 Qantas became the third airline to fly jets across the North Atlantic, after BOAC and Pan Am, operating between London and New York as part of the service from Sydney.
[28] From late 1968 Qantas technical representatives worked at Everett, WA, with Boeing to customise the 747 to its needs, which resulted in the updated 747B model.
One of the changes included the extension of upper deck by 20 inches to allow for ten windows each side instead of three fitted on the original version.
[43] At the same time, Virgin Blue announced a major expansion in October 2001,[44] which was successful in eventually pushing the Qantas domestic market share back to 60%.
[citation needed] Qantas had also developed a full-service all-economy international carrier focused on the holiday and leisure market, which had taken on the formerly used Australian Airlines name.
[46] On 13 December 2004, the first flight of Jetstar Asia took off from its Singapore hub to Hong Kong, marking Qantas' entry into the Asian cut-price market.
The final 747-300 flight was on 20 January 2009 when the last of the three 747-300s was ferried to the United States for storage, bringing to a close over 24 years and 524,000 flying hours of operations.
[53] In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis Qantas says it could "ditch" some first-class seats on some short International routes to maximise profits.
[67] Paris-based Australian designer Martin Grant is responsible for the new Qantas airline staff uniforms that were publicly unveiled on 16 April 2013.
Qantas ambassador and model Miranda Kerr assisted with the launch of the new outfit for which the colours of navy blue, red, and fuchsia pink are combined.
[78] On the same day Qantas also announced an order for 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to operate Project Sunrise flights, enabling the group to achieve what they call 'the final frontier of travel' and fly non-stop from the east coast of Australia to any other city (including New York and London).
[107][108] To better suit its airborne nature, wings were added to the kangaroo in 1947 by Gert Sellheim[109] and it was painted on the tail of the Lockheed Super Constellations in 1954.
In 1959, Qantas was the first airline outside the United States to operate the Boeing 707 jetliner,[110] making its inaugural flight from Sydney to San Francisco on 29 July 1959.
[110][111] In 1998, actor John Travolta acquired one of the 707-138Bs originally delivered to Qantas in 1961, had it repainted in the V-Jet livery in 2002, and donated it to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society.
[112] To mark the arrival of the new 747 in 1971, the new Qantas livery made the Flying Kangaroo logo the dominant tailfin element and the cheatline colour was changed to ochre.
[106] Hans Hulsbosch worked on the 1984 logo update and proposed the strapline "Spirit of Australia", which had previously been used in marketing materials, should be added to the exterior markings.
[107][108] The 2007 revision was carried out by Hulsbosch Communications, leading a creative team that included input from Peter Morrissey, Neil Perry, and Marc Newson.
Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti stated "the differences are subtle but distinctive ... our new flying kangaroo is sleeker and more contoured than the current version - a modern take on a design that has stood the test of time.
"[108][114] The kangaroo's feet were carried forward to avoid the illusion that they had been cut off by the aircraft's wings, and the wing/tail was brought back to give it a more dynamic, in-flight look.
[109] In 2016, a new livery with an updated kangaroo logo and exclusive typography designed by Marc Newson in partnership with Houston Group[115][116] was unveiled on an Airbus A330-300 in preparation for the delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner for Qantas.
