Sunday, August 14, 2011

Qantas Airlines: Flagship Carrier For Australia | ABIM Travel Leisure ...

The national airline of Australia is Qantas. Maintaining its main hub at Sydney International Airport, Quantas also has smaller hubs at Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. It runs international flights into Brisbane, Perth, Singapore, London, and Los Angeles.

Qantas Airlines was founded in 1920 and is the second oldest continuously operating airline in the world, as well as the oldest operating airline in the English speaking world.? It is a member of the Oneworld alliance, one of the largest airline alliance programs in the world.

Qantas Airlines is a private company and one of the most profitable airlines in the world.? Qantas Airlines was voted Third Best Airline in the World in the 2008 World Airline Awards.? The company and its affiliates maintain hundreds of aircraft and fly Airbus and Boeing planes. Qantas names its aircrafts after Greek gods, stars, famous Australian aviators, Australian birds and Australian cities.

Always spelled without a ?u,? the name of the airline actually is an acronym for ?Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.?

Adventure seekers who want to Antarctica can fly Qantas charters organized by Croydon Travel. Qantas flew its first Antarctic sight-seeing trips in 1977. These summer trips were suspended in 1979 after the crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 on Mt. Erebus, but restarted in 1994. Antarctic flights now require specific crew training in polar operations so that pilots and crew can handle whiteouts such as those that contributed to the 1979 disaster.

Qantas rewards frequent fliers with points based on distance flown, with additional points for travel in first and business class. Miles may be earned and spent on both Qantas and Oneworld alliance carriers. Following criticism of its rewards program in 2008 over the unavailability of reward seats, Qantas introduced Any Seat rewards, allowing members to pay for any seat on a flight, and Points Plus Pay, allowing members to qualify for travel with a combination of points and cash payments.

Qantas was the first airline to allow mobile phone use during flights. Also, the airline provides wireless internet as well as seat-back access to email and web browsing. The Australian carrier also has an extensive in-flight entertainment system. Some planes use Total Entertainment, which is an audio/video on demand system. Other planes use the Mainscreen System, were drop-down video menus offer either recent films or television programs, depending on long the flight is.

Quantas has recently announced a program to offset its carbon emissions. The program encourages passengers to fly carbon-neutral, and allows them to pay for their offsets in either frequent flier points of cash. Qantas donates program proceeds to government-certified carbon offset projects with a Greenhouse Friendly authentication. Professional golfer Greg Norman and Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe are representatives for the program.

Source: http://abim.tv/travelleisure/qantas-airlines-flagship-carrier-for-australia/

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