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Timeline of Qantas
1920 Aerial Services formed in Queensland and the Northern Territory. Their Headquaters was based in Winton, Quennsland. 16-11-1920 1921 Qantas moved their Headquarters to Longreach, Queensland. 1922 The first Qantas scheduled flight started from Charleville and went to Cloncurry, Queensland. It delivered Qantas mail and passengers. 1924 "S M Bruce" flies aboard Qantas, he became the first Australian Prime Minister to use the aircraft for an official flight. 1926 Qantas starts to build their own aircraft in Longreach. 1927 Qantas gets their first apprentice. 1928 The Flying Doctor Service started, using Qantas aircraft. 1929 The outback network extended to Brisbane. 1930 Qantas built their headquarters also in Brisbane the next year. 1931 Qantas takes airmail from Brisbane to Darwin as a part of an experiment for service to the UK. 1934 Qantas changes their name to &qout;Qantas Empire Airways". 1935 A Qantas DH86 Aircraft starts the airline's first overseas flight, from Darwin to Singapore, carrying airmail bound or the UK in co-operation with "Imperial Airways" (later called BOAC). 1938 Qantas introduced the Short C Class flying boats on the route to the UK, they would fly as far as Singapore then Imperial Airways crews took over. The head office moved to Sydney, the new operational base. 1939-1945 The airline built an engine overhaul workshop at Mascot aerodrome (now Sydney Airport). Qantas supported the war effort, evacuating personnel who risked being captured by advancing Japanese forces and dropping supplies at tree-top level to troops in New Guinea. The airline pioneered history-making flights of over 30 hours in Catalina aircraft between Perth and Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) to keep a crucial link with the Allied Forces. In 1944 Qantas uses the kangaroo symbol. 1946 Qantas restarts Australia-UK flying boat services with BOAC (later called British Airways) as their partner, introduces DC3 services to New Guinea and expands its network to India and the Pacific Islands. The Australian Government buys all of the shares in Qantas; the airline introduces Constellation aircraft on the London route and starts its first flight to Japan. 1949 Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) took over Qantas' Queensland and Northern Territory networks and the Flying Doctor Service operations. 1953 Qantas introduced a tourist (economy) class on the Kangaroo Route to the UK. 1954 Qantas began flights to San Francisco and Vancouver with Super Constellations. 1956 Qantas carried the Olympic flame from Athens to Australia for the Games in Melbourne. 1957 Qantas House in Hunter Street, Sydney, was The airlines new corporate headquarters. 1958 Qantas pioneered round the world services, using Super Constellations. 1959 Qantas became the first non-US airline to start using Boeing 707s which halved travel times on trans-Pacific services. 1960 TAA takes over Qantas' New Guinea services. 1966 The Co-founder of Qantas "Sir Hudson Fysh" retired as Chairman of Qantas. 1967 The name is changed to Qantas Airways Limited. 1971 Qantas introduces the jumbo jet - the Boeing 747. 1974 Qantas created a world record by evacuating 673 people on one of its flights from Darwin after the city was devastated by Cyclone Tracy. 1979 Qantas phased out its last 707 to become the world's only all-747 airline and it introduced the world's first Business Class. 1985 Qantas introduced the Boeing 767s. 1989 Qantas also created a world distance record for commercial jets when it flew its first Boeing 747-400 non stop 18,001km from London to Sydney in 20 hours nine minutes and five seconds. 1992 Qantas brought back Australian Airlines (formerly named TAA) for AUD$400 million. 1993 The Australian Government sold a 25 per cent share of the airline to British Airways as its first step towards privatisation. Qantas and Australian Airlines were merged under the banner Qantas - 'The Australian Airline'. 1994 Qantas introduced a new cabin design as part of a comprehensive update of its service which also featured more comfortable seats, new menus and uniforms and bigger airport lounges all for comfort of the passengers. 1995 Qantas was by now one of the world's greatest airlines. The airline group, which included regional subsidiaries, operated a fleet of more than 130 aircraft which flew more than 14 million passengers annually. 1997 Qantas celerbrated the companies 50th Anniversary of full Qantas services on the Kangaroo route between Australia and the United Kingdom, and the 50th anniversary of services to Japan 2002 Qantas' launched a new international subsidiary airline under the historical name of 'Australian Airlines'.
Information & Pictures used with permission |
