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The origins of Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) can be traced back to 1919. Two former Australian Flying Corps officers, W Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness carried out an assignment for the Australian government to survey a route for an air race from Longreach in Queensland to Katherine in the Northern Territory and to leave supplies enroute for the competitors. A tedious and challenging 51 day journey ensued in a Model T Ford through parts of Australia which had never been driven before the friends realised that an air service was needed to link remote settlements over virtually road less areas of outback Queensland and Northern Australia in order to transport mail, freight and passengers.

In 1922, the inaugural scheduled mail service carrying its first passenger began in Queensland flying from Charleville to Cloncurry via the Qantas base in Longreach. In 1928, Qantas signed a contract to operate medical flights with an onboard doctor; this later became the famous Flying Doctor Service.

In the 1930s Qantas began its long association with what is now British Airways when Qantas carried the first airmail from Brisbane to Darwin in conjunction with Britain Imperial Airways as part of an experimental Australia to England route. In 1934 Qantas and Imperial Airways combined their interests with each party holding a 50 per cent share and were registered as Qantas Empire Airways. Soon afterwards Qantas operated its first overseas passenger flight between Brisbane and Singapore which was followed by the flying boat service between Sydney and Southampton with the Qantas and Imperial Airways crews changing over at Singapore.

During World War II, the flying boat route between Australia and the UK was an important line of communication with Qantas crews in the front line operating many dangerous missions on unarmed aircraft. After losing half of the flying boat fleet of 10 aircraft and with Singapore under Japanese control, overseas passenger flights were cancelled. Some of the fleet was commissioned by the Australian government for war service with troops and supplies being transported to New Guinea.

In 1943, Qantas and BOAC (formerly Imperial Airways) agreed to a daring mission to re-establish flights between Australia and the UK with flying boats operating from Perth to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). This would be the longest non-stop passenger route in the world and would take around 28 hours to complete. Due to the weight of the fuel required for such an epic journey, there was only room onboard for three passengers and 70kg of diplomatic and armed forces mail. Incredibly, this vital route was operated for over 2 years without any accidents or mishaps with celestial navigation being used over waters patrolled by enemy aircraft in order to maintain radio silence.

After the war, Qantas began rebuilding and modernising its fleet with the purchase of new, long-range pressurised aircraft such as the Constellation. In 1947, Qantas began its first scheduled weekly service to London along the famous Kangaroo Route, a journey which took four days. With the introduction of the DC3 and Douglas DC4 Skymaster, new routes began to Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa and North America.

Qantas pioneered a round the world service in the late 1950s operating two Super Constellation aircraft simultaneously one along the Kangaroo Route via India and the other on the Southern Cross Route via the United States. It wasn't long before they were operating 8 weekly round the world services.

During the jet era of the late 1960s and 1970s, Qantas changed its name to Qantas Airways Limited and purchased several Boeing 747Bs. The 747 B-series had features better suited to long-haul flying which enabled Qantas to offer scheduled services but at much lower fares, this resulted in a huge growth in passenger numbers and revenue. By the late 1970s, the entire Qantas fleet consisted of the wide-bodied Boeing 747s and they were the first airline in the world to launch a Business Class service.

The 1990s was a period of rapid expansion for Qantas with the launch of many more new routes into Asia and it became the largest operator of domestic flights within Australia with the purchase of Australian Airlines. In 1993, the Australian Government sold a 25 per cent stake to British Airways as the first step towards privatisation; under this partnership the airlines began codesharing flights on the prime Kangaroo Route.

In response to the changing market and the success of competitors such as Virgin Blue, Qantas launched a new domestic carrier called Jetstar in 2004.

Today Qantas carries over 36 million passengers annually and serves 143 destinations in 36 countries with a global network of flights to Asia, the Pacific, the Americas, Europe and Africa. Together with Jetstar, the Qantas group operates over 5,000 domestic flights within Australia alone to 57 different city and regional destinations.


International Business Class

Qantas have recently refitted their Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A330-300 aircraft with luxurious new business class cabins. The cocoon-style "Skybed" seats have comprehensive seat adjustment controls to ensure maximum comfort in any of the seat or sleeping positions. The Skybed seats have a wealth of features including a back massager, cocktail table, night light, glove box, shoe compartment and privacy screen. The seat also reclines to form a unique "Z-bed position" for snoozing as well as the regular lie-flat position for sleeping.

The on-demand entertainment system has a choice of over 400 programmes which include 60 movies, 200 television programmes, music CDs, radio channels and interactive games. Each seat has a personal 10.2 inch touch-screen monitor and noise-cancelling headsets. A personal telephone is provided in every seat with the option of text messaging and a laptop power socket is also supplied.

The in-flight menus have been designed by Neil Perry, a leading Australian chef based in Sydney and feature tempting local produce. There is a choice of a full restaurant-style experience or an express-style service both of which are complemented by a selection of renowned Australian wines from the award-winning wine list. The in-flight bar also has a range of drinks and snacks from which you can help yourself, throughout the flight. On selected flights, you can also create your own room-service style breakfast by pre ordering from the delicious menu before you go to sleep.