Qantas Overview
Popularly called The Flying Kangaroo, Qantas Airways Limited is the national airline of Australia. The airline is based in Sydney with its headquarters in the Qantas Centre in the Mascot suburb, Sydney. Qantas is known for its service, safety measures, reliability in operation and high standard of maintenance. This has not only made the airline one of the longest operating airlines of the world but has also won the airline appreciation in the form of awards and appreciations. In 2009,Qantas was voted the sixth best airline in the world by Skytrax.
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Hubs
The main international hubs of Qantas are Sydney Airport and Melbourne Airport. However, Qantas also operates international flights from Singapore Changi International Airport, Brisbane Airport, Los Angeles International and London Heathrow airports. The domestic flights of the airline are mainly from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth airports.
History
Paul McGuiness, Hudson Fysh, Fergus McMaster and Arthur Baird together founded 'Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited'(QANTAS) on 16 November, 1920. It is the second oldest airline of the world. Qantas continues to provide outstanding service to its customers for the past 89 years.
Fleet and Destinations
Qantas operates a fleet of 245 aircrafts including aircrafts by Jetstar Airways & QantasLink airlines. The average age of the fleet is around 8.8 years. Qantas plies regular flights to 16 domestic destinations and 21 international destinations. The services connect 14 countries across Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Qantas also operates flightseeing charters to Antarctica on behalf of Croydon Travel.
Services & Facilities
The airline provides its customers excellent in-flight services and delectable food to make their journey comfortable and enjoyable. The ground services are equally good so as to provide ease and convenience to passengers. The passengers can check-in over the counters at the airport, through self check-in kiosks or through web. Assistance is provided to passengers with special needs such as minors travelling alone, expectant mothers, first time flyers or people needing mobility assistance.
Entertainment
Qantas has six travel classes- First, International Business, International Premium Economy, International Economy, Domestic Business & Domestic Economy. In-flight entertainment systems are installed on all its aircrafts, a vast selection of up to 100 movies, over 500 television programs, 1000 CDs, 50 audio books and 80 games are available to choose from. The services on Qantas flights also offer support for electronics such as laptop computers and iPod connectivity. Qantas also offers telecommunication services like sending and receiving text messages, making inflight telephone calls and performing seat to seat calls.
Meals
First class passengers are offered a 8-course tasting menu on selected flights. They are offered sumptuous snacks and upto 12 main-course choices, all meals are prepared onboard and made to order with the fresh ingredients. Meals can be ordered at any time during the flight. First class passengers can choose from a cup of tea, freshly prepared cappuccino to finest wines, champagne, spirits & beers. Business & Economy class passengers are also offered a selection of high quality meals along with complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
In-Flight Magazine & Duty-free
Qantas award winning in-flight magazine The Australian Way, and news bulletin Nine's Qantas Inflight News offer good reading material for its passengers onboard. They can also have a wonderful time going through its latest Sky Shopping catalogue, which offers many new products for inflight duty free shopping.