Our community

Since Qantas was founded in the Queensland outback in 1920, we’ve been proud to help the communities we serve. From assisting in times of natural disaster to providing an international platform to showcase the best our country has to offer, the Qantas Group continues to make a significant social and economic contribution.

This tradition continued as Australia dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Qantas operated hundreds of international repatriation flights on behalf of the Federal Government to bring Australians home from various hotspots including Chennai, Delhi, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Paris and Vancouver, and maintain vital links with Pacific island nations and Timor-Leste.

With the support of the Federal Government, we have also operated thousands of freight flights to assist Australian exporters. These flights have helped to support 130,000 jobs in export industries, delivering more than 18 million kilos of freight to key international markets.

With COVID-related border closures rendering most flights commercially unviable, Qantas and Jetstar also operated domestic flights on behalf of the government. These maintained critical transport links for people and goods – including essential medical supplies.

As Australia recovers from the COVID crisis, the Qantas Group has a significant role to play in reconnecting communities and helping bring the tourism industry back to life. Doing this will, in turn, drive our own recovery and our ability to keep serving regional communities, championing diversity and reconciliation, and promoting the best of Australia to the world.

Despite the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the aviation industry, as the National Carrier, the Qantas Group continues to have an integral role in the Australian economy. We remain a major employer and the biggest private promoter of local tourism. 

Qantas has kept the country connected and critical freight moving through the COVID-19 pandemic, helping Australian producers distribute their produce around the world. We've also ensured charter flying has been able to continue in Western Australia and Queensland, enabling the resources sector to keep operating. 

Qantas has also played an active role in supporting the national COVID vaccine roll out with a reward program for fully vaccinated Australians. As the national carrier, we are recognising those who have made the effort to protect themselves and the community, and ensuring we can return to a more normal life as vaccination rates rise.

In its most recent report, Deloitte Access Economics found that (pre-COVID) the Qantas Group had a $25.9 billion impact on the Australian economy. This included indirect economic impact adding up to $12.8 billion, or 0.7 per cent of Australian GDP, as well as $13.1 billion of tourism spending throughout the country.

• As the national carrier, we are proud to support Australian businesses by showcasing their products across the country and around the world. We spent over $2.8 billion with Australian based suppliers in FY21, representing 66 per cent of total procurement expenditure. We recognise the importance of supporting regional communities and do business with more than 750 suppliers in regional areas.
• The Qantas Group has Australia's largest regional footprint by network, fleet and capacity connecting local communities and economies. Since the start of the pandemic and the closure of international borders, the Group as announced more than 45 new domestic routes – many to regional destinations – to support more people wanting to holiday here.
• We're proud to count many Australian small businesses among our suppliers. We recognise that prompt, reliable payments can help small suppliers remain viable and even expand and create jobs, so we've signed up to the Business Council of Australia (BCA) Australian Supplier Payment CodeOpens external site in a new window.  
  

Helping the tourism sector is crucial to the recovery of the broader Australian economy. We're supporting this through marketing partnerships with federal, state and territory governments both internationally and domestically, in addition to our own extensive marketing and media strategy. 

We know there is significant demand for travel and we're ready to help regions that rely heavily on tourism by encouraging people to visit when the time is right.

Qantas is dedicated to creating work and training opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, incorporating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses into our supply chain, and telling the stories of the First Australians. We're proud to be a member of the Elevate RAP community. 

In 2018, we joined the Supply Nation and Business Council of Australia initiative 'Raising the Bar' and announced our commitment to procure three percent of our annual contestable spend from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suppliers by the end of FY24. Despite the challenging operating environment, we are still on track to meet our FY24 target.

Qantas, alongside many other Australian companies, engages on a range of social issues, from gender diversity and LGBTQ inclusion to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reconciliation. Our identity is the Spirit of Australia, and one of the most fundamental values in this country is the notion of a 'fair 'go', which is why we speak up on important social issues. In 2019, we were proud to join with 13 other Elevate RAP organisations to share our support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its proposed reforms of voice, treaty and truth. In 2021, we continued this support through a public submission process on the proposed design of the voice.