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Qantas Airlines: Flagship Carrier For Australia

Qantas Airlines is the national airline of Australia.  Qantas is Australia’s largest airline with its main hub at Sydney International Airport.  Qantas also has hubs at Melbourne Airport, Brisbane Airport and Perth Airport.  Qantas operates international flights into Brisbane, Parth, Singapore, Los Angeles and London.

The world’s second oldest airlines in continuous operation and the oldest airline in the English-speaking world, Quantas was founded in 1920. It is a member of the Oneworld alliance, one of the world’s largest airline alliance programs.

Qantas is both privately held and of the world’s very most profitable airlines. Voted third best in the world by the World Airline Awards in 2008, Qantas and its subsidiaries maintain hundreds of Boeing and Airbus planes, naming each after Australian aviators, Australian cities, Australian cities, Greek gods and goddesses, and stars.

The name Qantas, always spelled without a “u,” is an acronym for “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.”

Adventure seekers who want to Antarctica can fly Qantas charters organized by Croydon Travel. Qantas flew its first Antarctic sight-seeing trips in 1977. These summer trips were suspended in 1979 after the crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 on Mt. Erebus, but restarted in 1994. Antarctic flights now require specific crew training in polar operations so that pilots and crew can handle whiteouts such as those that contributed to the 1979 disaster.

Qantas rewards frequent fliers with points based on distance flown, with additional points for travel in first and business class. Miles may be earned and spent on both Qantas and Oneworld alliance carriers. Following criticism of its rewards program in 2008 over the unavailability of reward seats, Qantas introduced Any Seat rewards, allowing members to pay for any seat on a flight, and Points Plus Pay, allowing members to qualify for travel with a combination of points and cash payments.

Qantas is the first airline to offer mobile phone usage during flight.  In addition, the airline offers wireless internet access as well as seat-back access to email and cached web browsing.  Qantas also has an extensive in-flight entertainment system.  There are two systems.  One is an audio/video on demand system called the Total Entertainment System.  The other entertainment system is the Mainscreen System, where drop-down video screens show either movies or television programs, depending on the length of the flight.

Quantas has recently announced a program to offset its carbon emissions. The program encourages passengers to fly carbon-neutral, and allows them to pay for their offsets in either frequent flier points of cash. Qantas donates program proceeds to government-certified carbon offset projects with a Greenhouse Friendly authentication. Professional golfer Greg Norman and Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe are representatives for the program.

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