Our history

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Qantas Carpentaria flying boat.

Front-line airline

After war was declared in September 1939, several Qantas aircraft were transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force to help out with the war effort. Qantas also kept flying civilian services to Singapore under certain wartime restrictions, and in 1940 we added the first passenger flights to reach our neighbours in New Zealand with our Tasman Empire Airways partnership.

In 1941, Qantas crew flew what was only the second-ever east to west aerial crossing of the Pacific Ocean, when they ferried Catalina flying boats home from the United States for the Royal Australian Airforce.

Things got rocky in early 1942 as Japanese forces occupied most of South-East Asia, and Qantas’ Singapore services had to stop. Our aircraft were used to evacuate people from Singapore, the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea to Australia and to ferry troops and supplies, despite the Qantas Hangar and flying boat servicing facilities being destroyed by the first Japanese air raid on Darwin in February 1942. Two flying boats were lost to enemy action.

From June 1943, Qantas operated the only wartime civilian air service linking Australia to the world. The ‘Double Sunrise’ flights used Catalina flying boats to cross the Indian Ocean between Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Perth 271 times. Liberator aircraft joined the service in 1944 and were the first to carry what is now our well-known kangaroo symbol, taken from the penny coin.

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Super Constellation, operated on the Kangaroo route between Sydney and London.

National carrier and new horizons

The post-World War Two years were difficult, with an aging fleet and limited capital. In 1947, Qantas passed into public ownership, getting much-needed capital investment from the federal government. A new fleet of Lockheed Constellation aircraft underpinned the expansion of postwar international services to Europe, Asia and South Africa.

G’day mate! A new Kangaroo Route opened up in 1947, flying all the way to London. Soon followed by Japan, Hong Kong, and South Africa – then later, to San Francisco, Vancouver, Bangkok, Frankfurt and Athens. The kangaroo was hopping all over the globe with a round-the-world service using Super Constellation aircraft.

With this focus on international routes, Qantas transferred the domestic services to Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA), the new government-owned carrier which began operating in 1946. TAA revolutionised domestic air travel with the first pressurised Convair 240 aircraft and eventually forged the largest domestic route network in the world.

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B707 aircraft - the first civilian jet that almost halved flying time on Qantas overseas routes.

Jetting into the future

Entering Qantas service in 1959, the Boeing 707 airliner moved air travel into the jet age. But with the Boeing 747 jumbo arriving in 1971, air travel was revolutionised again. Flying times halved, airfares became more affordable and more Australians could afford to see the world on Qantas routes both old and new. Thousands of migrants first saw their new home through the window of a Qantas aircraft.

In 1979, Qantas became the first airline in the world to introduce Business Class travel, and the last Boeing 707 was retired. Ten years later, the first Boeing 747-438 aircraft was delivered to Qantas, with a record-breaking non-stop flight from London to Sydney.

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B747 taking off.

Privatisation and transformation

The early 1990s saw sweeping changes. British Airways took a shareholding in Qantas, and in 1992 Australian Airlines (formerly TAA) and Qantas merged, which allowed Qantas to get back to our origins providing domestic air services across Australia. In 1995 Qantas was fully privatised and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

By 1999, we became the first airline to fly non-stop between Melbourne and Los Angeles, while our services to New York started again after a 26-year pause.

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Crew in uniform designed by Martin Grant, with the Q400 aircraft.

Modern comfort and designer style

Technology continued to evolve as we entered the 21st century. Future Air Navigation System (FANS) technology allowed our aircraft to operate in areas without traditional radar coverage, and new aircraft entered our fleet, including the Airbus A380. Inside the cabin there were continuing improvements for passenger comfort, such as the award-winning Marc Newson-designed Skybed, inflight menus by Neil Perry and cabin mood lighting design to reduce jetlag.

Since the 1970s when Emilio Pucci designed new cabin crew uniforms and the 1980s when Yves St Laurent designed a new staff uniform, our cabin crew have been among the best-dressed in the sky. The 21st Century was no exception, with uniforms designed by leading Australian designers Peter Morrissey in 2003 and Martin Grant in 2013.

More about our uniforms

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QantasLink Q400.

The pandemic years

The COVID-19 pandemic presented the most challenging period in living memory for Qantas and the entire airline industry. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, on 20 March 2020, Australia shut its borders to the world for the first time, a closure that would last in some form until 21 February 2022, nearly two years later. This had a devastating impact on Qantas operations, along with our customers and staff. Most of the aircraft fleet was put into storage and tens of thousands of our staff were stood down for extended periods. In total, the business lost more than $7 billion during this period.

Qantas has a proud history of supporting Australians in their time of need. During COVID-19 we operated hundreds of flights on behalf of the Australian Government – across five continents – to bring Australians home, some from destinations not usually found on the Qantas network. Qantas Freight brought vaccines and other vital goods into Australia, and worked with the Government to support local businesses to export their products around the world.

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Pilots at Sydney Airport.

Qantas turns 100, and the world recovers

Amongst this challenging period, we took time to celebrate the Qantas Centenary. For 100 years Qantas has been a part of Australia’s evolving story, embodying a spirit of resilience, innovation and service.

With Australia’s domestic borders reopening and scheduled international flights restarting, more flights and destinations returned to the schedule. The challenges of restarting a complex operation after two years resulted in a passenger experience that didn’t always meet the high standards that Qantas has set over many decades.

In February 2022, Australia’s international borders reopened to vaccinated tourists, and there was a surge in demand as people jumped at the opportunity to travel again after so long. Brand new domestic and international routes had opened up, and Qantas Freight was busier than ever, due to the shift in consumer habits to shopping online rather than in person.

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QantasLink Airbus A220-300.

New planes and a new era of focus on sustainability

In the post-COVID era, flight demand surged – with Qantas carrying more than 50 million passengers in the 2024 financial year for the first time since 2019. In 2022, we placed a historic order to renewal our narrowbody fleet as well as 12 A350-1000s to operate our ‘Project Sunrise’ flights, our plan to operate non-stop between Sydney and London and New York. The first of our A220s entered service in early 2024, with the first A321XLR due in mid-2025.

The A220 and A321XLR aircraft produce lower emissions per seat, and have better fuel efficiency, when operated on like-for-like routes, than the aircraft they replace.

In 2023, we established the Qantas Climate Fund to invest in solutions that support our climate targets and reduce our environmental impact. This includes a partnership with Airbus to help accelerate the development of a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry in Australia and internationally. Example investments include a SAF project in Townsville, an international SAF development fund, and a fund developing nature-based carbon projects in regional New South Wales and Queensland.

In addition to the Climate Fund, the Group committed $10 million in 2024 to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, providing long-term support over ten years for coral reef restoration research and deployment.

More about sustainability at Qantas

Explore our current fleet