Qantas celebrates 100th birthday amidst historic aviation crisis

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This article originally appeared on AirlineGeeks.

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On Nov. 16, 1920, Queensland and Northern Territories Aerial Service — then and now affectionately known as QANTAS, but stylized “Qantas” — was founded by two veterans of the Australian Flying Corporation, Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness, together with local grazier Fergus McMaster.

With our country being one of the largest and most sparsely populated countries in the world, air transport soon became a fundamental enabler for the economic development of Australia as it entered the modern era. Initially carrying mail between outback towns, by the 1930s Qantas was already flying passengers to Singapore.

The airline entered the jet age in June 1959, when the first Boeing 707 aircraft was delivered and global travel became mainstream. The 1980s marked a transition to an all Boeing 747 fleet, with the airline being privatised in 1990 and starting their own low-cost subsidiary, Jetstar in the following decade to compete against low-cost start-up Virgin Blue.

A few weeks ago, Qantas became only the second airline in the world to continue operating under its original name for an entire century.

Celebrations of this 100^th anniversary have been scaled back due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Qantas still managed to conduct a low-level flyover of Sydney Harbour. “The flight path passed near Rose Bay where our Empire Flying Boats took off for Singapore between 1938 and 1942,” the airline said in a note.

The history of Qantas shows it’s no stranger to a challenge or a crisis. That’s often when its role as the national carrier has really come to the fore.

We want to use this moment to say thank you to all those who have supported Qantas over the years. And, in particular, to the many people who have dedicated some or all of their careers to this great company.

Qantas Chairman Richard Goyder

The CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce noted:

Around the world, Qantas is probably best known for its safety record, endurance flying and long list of aviation firsts. But for Australians, there’s nothing quite like seeing the flying kangaroo at the airport, waiting to take you home. We hope to be doing a lot more of that in the months and years ahead.

A Staple of International Aviation

“The Flying Kangaroo,” as the airline has long been nicknamed, is the only carrier flying to all inhabited continents on earth, even as international flights have been suspended due to travel limitations imposed by the Australian government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On July 22, 2020, the last Qantas Boeing 747 aircraft in service, VH-OEJ, flew from Sydney to Los Angeles International before positioning to the Mojave Desert for permanent storage and decommissioning. This put an end to 49 years of continuous service of the aircraft type for the carrier.

Another badge of distinction for Qantas is its unblemished safety record: no jet aircraft has ever been lost by the Australian carrier and no casualties have been recorded. However, between 1927 and 1945 the airline experienced eight fatal crashes with the loss of 63 lives, though those came before the widespread introduction of jet aircraft into the fleet.

Qantas was also the first airline to launch non-stop flights from Australia to London’s Heathrow Airport when, on March 25, 2018, a Boeing 787 aircraft made the 17-hour trip from Perth to London Heathrow. The carrier has launched the so-called “Project Sunrise” to launch non-stop flights from the Australian East Coast to both London Heathrow and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The project has been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic but will recommence once the pandemic is over.

* Featured image by Katie Bailey, AirlineGeeks.