Beginnings: 1920 to 1934 Qantas was founded in
Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited by
Paul McGinness and
Hudson Fysh.
Fergus McMaster joined them as chairman, as did
Arthur Baird to take care of aircraft maintenance. McGinness left QANTAS for other interests in 1922, and Hudson Fysh remained with the company as General Manager & Managing Director. He retired as Sir Hudson Fysh KBE DFC, Chairman of QANTAS in 1966. The airline's first aircraft was an
Avro 504K purchased for
£1425. The aircraft had a cruising speed of and carried one pilot and two passengers. On 2 November 1922, eighty-four-year-old outback pioneer
Alexander Kennedy became the first passenger on the first scheduled service (piloted by Hudson Fysh) receiving ticket number one for a flight from
Longreach to
Cloncurry. The airline operated air mail services subsidised by the Australian government, linking railheads in western Queensland. Between 1926 and 1928, Qantas built seven
de Havilland DH.50s and a single
DH.9 under licence in its
Longreach hangar. In 1928 a chartered Qantas aircraft made the inaugural flight of the
Royal Flying Doctor Service, departing from
Cloncurry.
Flying boats and war: 1934 to 1945 In 1934, QANTAS Limited and Britain's
Imperial Airways (a forerunner of
British Airways) formed a new company, Qantas Empire Airways Limited (QEA). Each partner held 49%, with two per cent in the hands of an independent arbitrator. In 1944 the Catalinas were augmented by conventional
Consolidated B-24 Liberators, flying from
Ratmalana via
RAF Minneriya for refueling and then across the ocean to
Learmonth. Later,
Avro Lancastrians were flown on the route. They flew from Sydney to
Gawler, stopping in
Adelaide for refuelling, and on to Learmonth for the overnight stage. 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. The lengthening of the runway at Ratmalana enabled the diversion to Minneria to be eliminated, and soon Ratmalana was replaced by
RAF Negombo. The service was renamed the
Kangaroo Service and the passenger award became
The Order of the Longest Hop. It was on this route that the Kangaroo logo was first used. After the war, the return trip could also go from Colombo to Cocos Islands, then to Perth on to Sydney. These flights continued until 5 April 1946. File:Qantas Replica Mascot Airport.JPG|
Avro 504K replica on display in Qantas' Sydney Airport domestic terminal File:First Qantas flight 1922 SLNSW FL8579187.jpg|Arrival at Longreach of the Armstrong Whitworth FK8 with the first bag of airmail on the inaugural flight of the first Qantas air service from Charleville to Cloncurry, 22 November 1922 File:De Havilland DH.50J VH-ULG Hippomenes of Qantas at Longreach.jpg|Qantas-manufactured
de Havilland DH.50J, circa 1928 File:Short S-23.jpg|Qantas
Short S.23 Empire flying boat File:Mornington Island Parachute Mail.jpg|A vignette for affixing to mail for the 1943 Christmas parachute drop to
Mornington Island Mission The post-war years: 1945 to 1959 arriving at London Heathrow from Sydney in 1955 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. Nationalised airlines were normal at the time, and the Qantas board encouraged this move. After the completion of the buyout, QANTAS Limited was wound up and liquidated to shareholders. Shortly after nationalisation, QEA began its first services outside the
British Empire-to Tokyo via Darwin and
Manila with
Avro Lancastrian aircraft. 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. 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. The network expanded across the Pacific to
Vancouver via
Auckland,
Nadi,
Honolulu and San Francisco in early 1954 when it took over the
Southern Cross Route of
British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA). This order made the airline the first customer for the type outside the US. This order was later followed up by another purchase by Qantas of the same variant. In March 1960 the airline ordered six of the
turbofan derivative,
Boeing 707-138B, with delivery scheduled for the following year. in December 2006 for display in the
Qantas Founders Outback Museum at
Longreach. The Boeing 707-138 was a shorter version of the Boeing 707 that was ordered only by Qantas. The first Qantas jet service 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, after BOAC and
Pan Am, operating between London and New York as part of the service from Sydney. All of the
turbojet aircraft were converted to upgraded
turbofan engines in 1961 and were rebranded as
V-Jets from the Latin
vannus meaning fan. While jets superseded Super Constellations on the Kangaroo and Southern Cross services, they remained flying on the Wallaby Route. In 1966 the airline diversified its business by opening the 450-room Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. The same year, Qantas placed early
options on the new
Concorde airliner but the orders were eventually cancelled. Also in 1966, the
Fiesta route opened from Sydney to London via
Fiji,
Tahiti, Mexico City,
Acapulco,
Nassau and
Bermuda. In September 1965 Qantas launched the first V-Jet service on the
Kangaroo Route, via
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1967 the airline placed orders for the
Boeing 747. This aircraft could seat up to 350 passengers, a major improvement over the Boeing 707. Orders were placed for four aircraft with deliveries commencing in 1971. The later delivery date allowed Qantas to take advantage of the −200B version, which better suited its requirements. Also in 1967, Qantas Empire Airways changed its name to Qantas Airways, the name of the airline today. Later in the decade, Qantas placed options on two
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft for flights to
Wellington, New Zealand. These were not taken up, and two
Boeing 747SPs were ordered instead. In March 1979, Qantas operated its final Boeing 707 flight from Auckland to Sydney, and became the only major airline in the world to have an all-747 fleet. That same year Qantas introduced
Business class—the first airline in the world to do so. The
Boeing 767-200 was introduced in 1985, After a number of delays, the remainder of the Qantas float proceeded in 1995. The public share offer took place in June and July of that year, with the government receiving A$1.45 billion in proceeds. The remaining shares were disposed of in 1995–96 and 1996–97. Investors outside Australia took a strong interest in the float, securing 20% of the stock which, together with British Airways' 25% holding, meant that, once floated on the stock exchange, Qantas was 55% Australian-owned and 45% foreign-owned. By law, Qantas must be at least 51% Australian-owned, and the level of
foreign ownership is constantly monitored. In 1998, Qantas co-founded the
Oneworld alliance with
American Airlines, British Airways,
Canadian Airlines, and
Cathay Pacific. The alliance commenced operation in February 1999, with
Iberia Airlines and
Finnair joining later that year. Oneworld markets itself at the premium travel market, offering passengers a larger network than each airline could on its own. The airlines also work together to provide operational synergies to keep costs down. at
Perth Airport Qantas ordered twelve
Airbus A380-800s in 2000, with options for twelve more. Eight of these options were exercised in 2006, bringing firm orders to twenty. Qantas is the third airline to receive A380s, after
Singapore Airlines and
Emirates. As part of the order, Qantas also confirmed a place for 15
A330's in its fleet, divided among 7 -200 and 6 -300 variants. The first of '330s began trickling in during 2002. The main domestic competitor to Qantas,
Ansett Australia, collapsed on 14 September 2001. Market share for Qantas immediately neared 90%, with the relatively new budget airline
Virgin Blue holding the remainder. To capitalise on this event, Qantas ordered
Boeing 737-800 aircraft, obtaining them a mere three months later. This unusually short time between order and delivery was possible due to the
11 September 2001 attacks in the United States; the subsequent downturn in the US aviation market meant American Airlines no longer needed the 737-800 aircraft it had ordered. The delivery positions were reassigned to Qantas on condition the aircraft remained in American Airlines configuration for later possible lease purposes. At the same time, Virgin Blue announced a major expansion in October 2001, which was successful in eventually pushing the Qantas domestic
market share back to 60%. To prevent any further loss of market share, Qantas responded by creating a new cut-price subsidiary airline,
Jetstar. This has been successful in keeping the status quo at around 65% for Qantas Group airlines and 30% for Virgin Blue, with other regional airlines accounting for the rest of the market. 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. This airline ceased operating its own-liveried aircraft in July 2006, with the staff operating Qantas services before being closed entirely in September 2007, with the staff joining the new Qantas base in
Cairns. Qantas has also expanded into the New Zealand domestic air travel market, firstly with a shareholding in
Air New Zealand and then with a franchise takeover of
Ansett New Zealand. In 2003, Qantas attempted and failed to obtain regulatory approval to purchase a larger (but still minority) stake in Air New Zealand. Subsequently, Qantas stepped-up competition on the trans-Tasman routes, introducing Jetstar to New Zealand. British Airways sold its 18.5% stake in Qantas in September 2004 for £425 million, though keeping its close ties with Qantas intact. 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. Qantas owns 44.5% of the carrier. On 14 December 2005 Qantas announced an order for 115
Boeing 787-8 and
787-9 aircraft (45 firm orders, 20 options and 50 purchase rights). The aircraft will allow Qantas to replace its Boeing 767-300 fleet, increase capacity and establish new routes. This announcement came after a long battle between Boeing and Airbus to meet the airline's needs for fleet renewal and future routes. The first of the 787s were originally scheduled to be delivered in August 2008, with the 787-9s coming in 2011. However, on 10 April 2008 Qantas announced that the intended August delivery of the 787s has been delayed for a further 15 months from the original delivery date. In the interim, Qantas Chief Executive Officer
Geoff Dixon stated that Qantas would claim substantial liquidated damages from Boeing under the purchase agreement, and use those funds to offset the costs of leasing alternative aircraft. In December 2006, Qantas was the subject of a failed bid from a consortium calling itself
Airline Partners Australia. This bid failed in April 2007, with the consortium not gaining the percentage of shares it needed to complete the takeover.
Qantas since 2007 Qantas's main international hubs are
Sydney,
Melbourne and
Brisbane. However, Qantas operates a significant number of international flights into and out of
Singapore Changi,
Auckland,
Los Angeles International and
London Heathrow airports. Its domestic hubs are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide airports, but the company also has a strong presence in Cairns and Canberra airports. It serves a range of
international and domestic destinations. at takeoff Qantas wholly owns
Jetstar,
Jetconnect (which operates international services between Australia and New Zealand),
QantasLink (including
Sunstate Airlines and
Eastern Australia Airlines), and
Qantas Freight (which itself wholly owns
Australian airExpress and
Express Freighters Australia). Qantas did have a minor 4.2% stake in
Air New Zealand, but this was sold on 26 June 2007. Qantas has a 46% shareholding in
Fiji Airways. Qantas has stepped up the expansion of Jetstar, with the launch of international services (in addition to existing trans-
Tasman and Jetstar Asia flights) to leisure destinations such as
Bali,
Ho Chi Minh City,
Osaka and
Honolulu having begun in November 2006. On some routes (such as Sydney–Honolulu) Jetstar supplements existing Qantas operations, but many routes are new to the network. The lower cost base of Jetstar allows the previously unprofitable or marginal routes to be operated at greater profitability. The Boeing 747, which constituted the entire Qantas fleet in the early 1980s, is being retired by the airline. The last three 747-300s were retired at the end of 2008 and
Helloworld Travel from 2017), by corporatising its leisure and corporate travel divisions; Qantas Holidays and Qantas Business Travel and selling them to Jetset Travelworld Group. This deal created a vertically integrated travel company with retail, wholesale and corporate sales arms. Also in 2008 the first Qantas
Airbus A380 was handed over by Airbus at a ceremony on 19 September. During this ceremony, Qantas announced that it was considering ordering four more A380s. The aircraft arrived on Australian soil on the morning of 21 September, when it touched down at Sydney Airport. Qantas' first route for the A380 was
Melbourne to
Los Angeles beginning on 20 October 2008, then from Sydney to Los Angeles. The second A380, which was delivered in December 2008, increased the service frequency on the same routes. Subsequent aircraft to be delivered will further expand services, initially on the
Kangaroo Route. On 2 December 2008,
British Airways confirmed that talks were underway regarding a possible merger between the two companies. They would merge as a
dual-listed company with shares listed both on the
London Stock Exchange and
Australian Securities Exchange. However, on 18 December 2008, the two companies called off their merger discussions over ownership issues in the aftermath of a merger. If the merger between Qantas and British Airways and the previously announced merger between British Airways and
Iberia Airlines had both occurred, it would have created the largest airline company in the world. On 29 December 2008, Qantas flew its last scheduled Boeing 747-300 service, operating from Melbourne to Los Angeles via Auckland. 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. The final 747-300 flight was also the last time a Qantas aircraft flew with a
flight engineer. During the
2008 financial crisis Qantas said it could "ditch" some first-class seats on some short International routes to maximise profits. Its share price has been steadily rising after its low point in March 2009 and the airline's profit fell by 88% to $117 million for the year to June but despite this, it was one of the few international airlines to report a profit for the financial year. The company blamed the figures on a drop in customer demand and said it was scrapping dividend payments. Qantas said passengers would only be able to fly first class between Australia and London, via Singapore, and between Australia and Los Angeles. In November 2012, Qantas took full ownership of
Australian airExpress after buying
Australia Post's 50% shareholding. At the same time it sold its 50% interest in
StarTrack to Australia Post. 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. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce stated that the new design "speaks of Australian style on the global stage" at the launch event that involved Qantas employees modelling the uniform. Grant consulted with Qantas staff members over the course of one year to finalise the 35 styles that were eventually created. To account for a low Australian dollar and rising fuel costs, Qantas announced at the end of July 2013 that fuel surcharges on international flights would increase by A$75 (one way). In addition, domestic base fares will rise by two to three per cent. On 24 March 2018, a
Boeing 787 operated the first ever scheduled non-stop commercial flight between Australia and Europe. Flight QF9, was a 17-hour, 14,498 km (9,009-mile) journey from
Perth to
London Heathrow. In 2019 Qantas launched 19-hour flights on a restricted payload between New York and London to Sydney with 787-9s. In April 2018, Qantas sold its Q Catering arm to
dnata. In February 2019, Qantas purchased a 20% shareholding in
Alliance Airlines. On 4 February 2021, a 3-year deal with Alliance Airlines was announced to access 3 E190 aircraft on a wet lease with flexibility to use up to 11 additional aircraft (for a total of 14). The aircraft would initially be used between Adelaide, Darwin and Alice Springs. Since then Qantas has steadily increased its use of the aircraft and have currently agreed to operate 26 aircraft with 4 options remaining, by April 2024. On 2 March 2022, Qantas announced a major order with Airbus to firm up its domestic orders for Project Winton, with a firm order for 20 Airbus A321XLR aircraft and 20 Airbus A220-300 (later increased to 29 through activation of purchase rights). The order included 94 purchase rights spread across multiple aircraft and a 10-year period allowing for flexibility for the group. With an existing order already being in place with Airbus of 109 A320neo aircraft (including options), subsequently meaning the group has access to up to 299 narrowbody aircraft if all options are used. 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). The aircraft will only have 238 seats onboard (the lowest of any aircraft in that class) with 40% being dedicated to premium, with Qantas designing new seats for all cabins to ensure the flagship service is up to the new standards of the 21st century. On 24 August 2023, Qantas announced another order for aircraft to operate international service under Project Fysh, with a firm order for four 787-9, eight 787-10 and another 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft (for a total of 24). With the A350-1000 expected to have a different seating configuration to those operating Project Sunrise flights. These aircraft will be used to replace the Airbus A330 and A380 in the Qantas fleet from 2027 and 2032 respectively. Having acquired a 51% shareholding in
TripADeal in 2022, in June 2024 Qantas took full ownership. == Company heads ==