Airlines are one of the biggest business and a symbol of pride for every country. For some countries, its aviation industry plays a pivotal role in its development. One such country is Australia which has the third oldest airline in the world named Qantas Airways. It is the flag carrier of Australia, and, also is the largest airline in terms of fleet size and international flights. Qantas is the abbreviated name for the airline’s it stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. The airline is also popularly known by its nickname ‘The Flying Kangaroo’.
Early Years
In the early 1920s, three people came together to set up Qantas, that would become one of the most influential airlines in the future. These people were Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinnes, and Fergus McMaster. On 16th November 1920, Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited was founded in Winton, Queensland.
The airline set up their headquarters in Winton, Queensland and owned their first aircraft named Avro 504K. The next year they shifted to Longreach, Queensland and after nine years later, i.e. in 1930, they shifted the headquarters to Brisbane, Queensland. Initially, the tickets booking was available in their office set up in a small building in Longreach.
The year 1934 brought a prosperous offer for Qantas Airways. The company, along with British Imperial Airways, formed a new company and called it Qantas Empire Airways, also known as QEA. The air service started between Brisbane and Darwin the same year. The company began international flight service next year in 1935 when it extended airline to Singapore.
But with the World War II, Qantas Airways suffered a huge loss as five of its total ten aircraft were destroyed in the enemy attacks. The rest five were taken by the Australian government for the war services. It was way after, in 1943, that the services resumed again. The logo of Qantas airways consists of a kangaroo, which was first used on the “Kangaroo Route” in 1944 between Sydney and Karachi.
Nationalization & Expansion
The Australian government shortly nationalized Qantas Airways in 1947. It was the decision of the then Labor Prime Minister Ben Chiefly. This led to a complete nationalization of the airways which transferred the domestic flights to Trans Australia Airlines. Qantas now operated within just international networks. This gave the airlines more opportunities to expand its services and the company flew its aircraft to Tokyo, then Hong Kong. Later the headquarters was formed in Sydney and in June 1959, entered into the jet age, with its first Boeing 707-138 aircraft.
Qantas, in 1992, merged with the Trans Australian Airlines and was semi-privatised between 1993 and 1996, with 51% of stakes owned by Australian shareholders. In 2001, Qantas founded a budget airline service, called Jetstar Airways, to compete with the newly entered Virgin Blue Airways in the Australian airline industry. It successfully acquired about 65% of the market share with Virgin Blue acquiring 30%. Qantas is also one of the founding members of Oneworld Airline Alliance.
The company slowly launched its services to other parts of the world including the Asian market. In 2004, it launched Jetstar Asian Airways covering major Asian countries. And it is expanding and increasing its services to other parts of the world too.
Qantas Airways headquarters is situated at Qantas Centre in the Bayside suburb of Mascot, Sydney, New South Wales. The airline has played a major role in the development of Australian aviation industry. The airways carry about 47 million passengers every year and have provided employment to more than 30,000 people. It operates about staggering 7300 flights each week which fly to more than 1000 destinations around the world.
Harshal Pawar is an avid reader, a TV show addict, and a writer. He has a personal blog brainwork.wordpress.com where he jots down his articles and poetry about love and life.
He is currently pursuing film-making and wishes to bring the words written on a paper to the screen. More of all he is a scorpio.