45 Facts About Qantas

1.

Qantas is an acronym of the airline's original name, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, as it originally served Queensland and the Northern Territory, and is popularly nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo".

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2.

Qantas is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance.

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3.

Qantas owns Jetstar, a low-cost airline that operates both international services from Australia and domestic services within Australia and New Zealand; and holds stakes in a number of other Jetstar-branded airlines.

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4.

Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 by Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinness and Fergus McMaster as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited.

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5.

In 1998, Qantas co-founded the Oneworld alliance with American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, and Cathay Pacific, with other airlines joining subsequently.

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6.

Qantas briefly revived the Australian Airlines name for a short-lived international budget airline between 2002 and 2006, but this subsidiary was shut down in favour of expanding Jetstar internationally, including to New Zealand.

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7.

In 2004, the Qantas group expanded into the Asian budget airline market with Jetstar Asia Airways, in which Qantas owns a minority stake.

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8.

In December 2006, Qantas was the subject of a failed bid from a consortium calling itself Airline Partners Australia.

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9.

Qantas retired its last Boeing 747 in July 2020 after almost 49 years of continuous operation—the first 747 was inducted in August 1971, while all twelve Airbus A380s were placed in storage for a minimum of three years.

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10.

In November 2020, Qantas announced that the company will ask for proof of COVID-19 vaccination from international travelers.

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11.

Qantas' headquarters are located at the Qantas Centre in the suburb of Mascot, Sydney, New South Wales.

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12.

Qantas has operated a number of passenger airline subsidiaries since inception, including:.

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13.

Qantas operates a freight service under the name Qantas Freight and wholly owns the logistics-and-air-freight company Australian airExpress.

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14.

Qantas employs a full-time Diversity Coordinator, who is responsible for the programme.

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15.

Qantas has had a number of its planes painted with the art of Aboriginal artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye and others with art inspired by Rene Kulitja and Paddy Bedford.

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16.

Qantas is the main sponsor of the Australia national rugby union team.

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17.

Qantas was the naming rights sponsor for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix from 2010 until 2012.

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18.

On 26 December 2011, Qantas signed a four-year deal with Australian cricket's governing body Cricket Australia, to be the official carrier of the Australia national cricket team.

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19.

Peter Dutton has said that chief executives such as Alan Joyce at Qantas should "stick to their knitting" rather than using the company's brand to advocate for political causes.

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20.

In relation to Israel Folau, sacked by Rugby Australia which is financially supported by Qantas, following his social media postings on homosexuality.

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21.

On 26 March 2012, Qantas set up Jetstar Hong Kong with China Eastern Airlines Corporation, which was intended to begin flights in 2013, but became embroiled in a protracted approval process.

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22.

Also during 2014 the Qantas Sale Act, under which the airline was privatised, was amended to repeal parts of section 7.

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23.

Qantas operates flightseeing charters to Antarctica on behalf of Croydon Travel.

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24.

Two Qantas aircraft are currently decorated with an Indigenous Australian art scheme.

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25.

Several Qantas aircraft have been decorated with promotional liveries, promoting telecommunications company Optus; the Disney motion picture Planes; the Australian national association football team, the Socceroos; and the Australian national rugby union team, the Wallabies.

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26.

In 2019, Qantas began the process of retrofitting its Airbus A380 aircraft with new Business Suites as offered on Airbus A330 and Boeing 787 aircraft.

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27.

In 2019, Qantas began the process of retrofitting its Airbus A380 aircraft with new Premium Economy seats, as offered on Boeing 787 aircraft.

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28.

In 2019, Qantas began the process of retrofitting its Airbus A380 aircraft which includes new Economy seats with new seat cushions and improved inflight entertainment, as offered on Airbus A330 and Boeing 787 aircraft.

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29.

Qantas has several types of in-flight entertainment systems installed on its aircraft and refers to the in-flight experience as "On:Q".

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30.

In 2007, Qantas conducted a trial for use of mobile telephones with AeroMobile, during domestic services for three months on a Boeing 767.

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31.

Previously, the Australian Nine Network provided a news bulletin for Qantas entitled Nine's Qantas Inflight News, which was the same broadcast as Nine's Early Morning News, however Nine lost the contract to Sky News.

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32.

In July 2015, Qantas signed a deal with American cable network HBO to provide over 120 hours of television programming in-flight from the network which will be updated monthly, as well as original lifestyle and entertainment programming from both Foxtel and the National Geographic Channel.

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33.

In 2017 Qantas commenced rolling out complimentary high speed Wi-Fi on domestic aircraft.

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34.

Qantas Club is the airline lounge for Qantas with airport locations around Australia and the world.

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35.

Additionally, Qantas operates dedicated international first-class lounges in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Los Angeles and Singapore.

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36.

Domestically, Qantas offers dedicated Business Lounges at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth for domestic Business Class, Qantas Platinum and Platinum One, and OneWorld Emerald frequent flyers.

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37.

Qantas Club offers membership by paid subscription or by achievement of Gold or Platinum frequent flyer status.

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38.

Qantas has faced criticism regarding availability of seats for members redeeming points.

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39.

The last fatal accidents suffered by Qantas were in 1951, with three fatal crashes in five months.

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40.

In November 2005 it was revealed that Qantas had a policy of not seating adult male passengers next to unaccompanied children.

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41.

Qantas said it was wrong to assume that all adult males posed a danger to children.

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42.

In 2010, when British Airways was successfully sued to change its child seating policy, Qantas argued again that banning men from sitting next to unaccompanied children "reflected parents' concerns".

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43.

Qantas has pleaded guilty to participating in a cartel that fixed the price of air cargo.

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44.

Qantas has been subject to protests in relation to the deportation of asylum seekers, which led to disruptions of flights.

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45.

In 2009, Qantas was one of the inaugural inductees into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.

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