Qantas turns 100
The select list of centenary airlines just got a bit longer (so far, KLM - whose birthday bash I attended last year! - and Avianca in it), since Qantas reached this impressive milestone today!
This iconic kangaroo-liveried Australian airline started out in Queensland (hence the acronym that ended up being its name: Queensland And Northern Territory Air Service), where you can still find one of the original hangars. This is, of course, at the Qantas Founders Museum, that is located deep in the outback of Queensland and that we had the chance to learn more about in a recent podcast:
The Allplane Podcast #17 - The Qantas Founders Museum, with Nicole Kuttner
Preserving Qantas heritage
I also had the chance to cover the Qantas Founders Museum and, therefore, some bits of Qantas history, in a couple of CNN articles:
This one about the world’s best airline museums
This other one about the complex, and highly successful operation, to move an old Lockheed Super Connie airliner from Manila, in the Philippines, to Longreach.
Unfortunately, the current Covid pandemic, and the related health and safety restrictions, has taken a bit of shine off the celebrations.
The Qantas Founders Museum, for example, had a whole programme of events, such as this exhibition of Qantas historical posters, that has obviously been impacted in a negative way.
We could still enjoy the great safety video, released a few months ago, which covers the whole history of Qantas, from its early pioneering days all the way to the ultra long haul flights of today.
Hopefully, once the pandemic lifts off, the much awaited “Project Sunrise” (connecting London and Sydney nonstop) will be able to go ahead for Qantas to continue making history!