Qantas Airways Limited ( KWON-təs), doing business as QANTAS or Qantas, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Oceania. A founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance, it is the only airline in the world that flies to all seven continents, with it operating flights to Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America from its hubs in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, and Brisbane. It also flies to over 60 domestic destinations across Australia.
Qantas is one of the world's oldest airlines still in operation, originally founded in November 1920. Qantas is an acronym of the airline's original name, Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services, as it originally served Queensland and the Northern Territory. Since then, the company has undergone several changes, including nationalisation and privatisation. It is popularly nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo" and has the official slogan "Spirit of Australia".
Qantas is based in the Sydney suburb of Mascot, adjacent to its main hub at Sydney Airport. As of March 2023, Qantas Group had a 60.8% share of the Australian domestic market. Various subsidiary airlines operate to regional centres and on some trunk routes within Australia, as well as some short haul international flights under the QantasLink banner. Qantas owns Jetstar, a low-cost airline that operates both international services from Australia and domestic services within Australia and New Zealand. It holds stakes in a number of other Jetstar-branded airlines in Asia, as well as Alliance Airlines and Fiji Airways.
History
Q.A.N.T.A.S.
Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 by Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinness and Fergus McMaster as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited (Q.A.N.T.A.S.), beginning its operations with the Avro 504K, the airline's first aircraft. Q.A.N.T.A.S. eventually moved its headquarters to Longreach, Queensland in 1921, then to Brisbane, Queensland in 1930.
QEA era
In 1934, QANTAS and Britain's Imperial Airways, a forerunner of British Airways, formed a new company, Qantas Empire Airways Limited (QEA). In December 1934, the new airline began operations, flying between Brisbane and Darwin. QEA flew internationally from May 1935, when the service from Darwin was extended to Singapore. Imperial Airways operated the rest of the service through to London. When World War II began, enemy action and accidents destroyed half of the fleet of ten. Most of the fleet was taken over by the Australian government for war service.
In 1943, flying boat services resumed, with flights between the Swan River at Crawley in Perth, Western Australia and Koggala Lake in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. This linked up with the British Overseas Airways Corporation, BOAC, the successor airline to Imperial Airways, service to London. Qantas' kangaroo logo was first used on the "Kangaroo Route", commencing in 1944, from Sydney to Karachi, where BOAC crews took over for the rest of the journey to the UK.
In 1947, QEA was nationalised by the Australian government led by Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley. QANTAS Limited was then wound up. After nationalisation, Qantas' remaining domestic network, in Queensland, was transferred to the nationally owned Trans-Australia Airlines, leaving Qantas with a purely international network. Shortly after nationalisation, QEA began its first services outside the British Empire, to Tokyo. Services to Hong Kong began around the same time. In 1957, a head office, Qantas House, opened in Sydney.
Jet age
In June 1959, Qantas entered the jet age when the first Boeing 707-138 was delivered. The current parent company, Qantas Airways Limited, was incorporated in 1967. On 14 September 1992, Qantas merged with nationally owned domestic airline, Australian Airlines, renamed from Trans-Australia Airlines in 1986. Australian Airlines's aircraft started to be rebranded as Qantas aircraft in 1993. Qantas was gradually privatised between 1993 and 1997.
Oneworld and Jetstar
In 1998, Qantas co-founded the Oneworld alliance with American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, and Cathay Pacific, with other airlines joining subsequently.
With the entry of new discount airline Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia) into the domestic market in 2000, Qantas' market share fell. Qantas created the budget Jetstar in 2001 to compete. The main domestic competitor to Qantas, Ansett Australia, collapsed in September 2001.
Qantas briefly revived the Australian Airlines name as a short-lived international budget airline between 2002 and 2006. This subsidiary was shut down in favour of expanding Jetstar internationally, including to New Zealand. In 2004, the Qantas group expanded into the Asian budget airline market with Jetstar Asia, in which Qantas owns a minority stake. In 2007, a similar model was used for an investment into Jetstar Pacific, headquartered in Vietnam, and Jetstar Japan, launched in 2012.
In December 2006, Qantas was the subject of a failed bid from a consortium calling itself Airline Partners Australia. In 2008, merger talks with British Airways did not proceed to an agreement. In 2011, industrial relations dispute between Qantas and the Transport Workers Union of Australia resulted in the grounding of all Qantas aircraft and a lock-out of the airline's staff for two days.
On 25 March 2018, a Qantas Boeing 787 flew non-stop between Australia and Europe, connecting the two continents by air for the first time, with the arrival in London of Flight 9 (QF9). QF9 was a 17-hour, 14,498 km (9,009-mile) journey from Perth Airport in Western Australia to London Heathrow.
On 20 October 2019, Qantas Airways flew from New York City to Sydney using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner in 19 hours and 20 minutes, the longest commercial flight at the time.
COVID-19
On 19 March 2020, Qantas suspended about 60% of domestic flights, put two thirds of its employees on leave, suspended all international flights, and grounded more than 150 of its aircraft from the end of March until at least 31 May 2020, following expanded COVID-19 pandemic government travel restrictions. To survive the pandemic, Qantas axed 6,000 jobs and announced a plan to raise A$1.9 billion in new capital. Qantas offloaded its 30% stake in Jetstar Pacific to Vietnam Airlines, retiring the Jetstar brand in Vietnam.
In July 2020, Qantas retired its last Boeing 747-438ER, after almost 49 years of continuous operation of the type—the first 747-238B was introduced in August 1971. All twelve Airbus A380s were placed in storage, ten at Mojave Air & Space Port and two at Los Angeles International Airport, for a minimum of three years. The pilots of the last Boeing 747 flight to Mojave Desert via Los Angeles traced the shape of the iconic Qantas logo in the flight path before the jet continued on its journey.
In November 2020, Qantas issued a public statement expressing their intention to require passengers traveling overseas to provide proof of COVID-19 inoculation. As per the statement made by Alan Joyce, the airline's CEO, the presence of a COVID-19 vaccine would be considered indispensable for the purpose of travel. Joyce expressed their intention to potentially modify the terms and conditions, to specify that anyone traveling internationally must have a vaccination before embarking. Qantas also announced the outsourcing of 2,000 ground staff roles to reduce costs. This decision was later found to have been illegal adverse action in order to prevent industrial action, and the airline was fined $90m in addition to agreeing to pay $120m compensation to affected staff.
In August 2021, Qantas required all of its 22,000 employees to be fully vaccinated against the virus.
In May 2022, Qantas ordered twelve A350-1000 aircraft from Airbus, to be used in non-stop flights from Sydney to London in late 2025. In the same month, Qantas agreed terms to purchase Alliance Airlines. In April 2023, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) opposed the takeover.
By April 2024 Qantas had returned ten of its original twelve A380s to service, with all serviceable aircraft having undergone major refurbishment work to enhance the onboard soft furnishings.
Non-stop flight routes
In August 2022, Qantas Airways announced plans to compete in June 2023 with Air New Zealand on the non-stop Auckland–New York route. Qantas flights would originate in Sydney, before flying in 2026 on a non-stop Sydney–New York route, as part of Project Sunrise. Qantas aims to eliminate the "tyranny of distance" by developing non-stop flight routes connecting Australian cities to New York City, and to London. In February 2023, Qantas announced profits of A$1.7bn for the second half of 2022, after experiencing losses due to COVID. In a development described by ABC News as a "mammoth protest vote", on 3 November 2023 nearly 83% of Qantas shareholders voted against the airline's remuneration report.
Destinations, routes and codeshare agreements
Destinations
Qantas operates regular services from Australia to destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Its domestic network serves all Australian states, along with the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and the external territory of Norfolk Island. In addition, Qantas also operates 'flightseeing' charters to Antarctica from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, and formerly from Adelaide, Canberra, and Hobart, in partnership with Melbourne-based company Antarctica Flights. It first flew these Antarctic flightseeing trips in 1977. They were suspended for a number of years due to the crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 on Mount Erebus in 1979. Qantas restarted the flights in 1994. Although these flights do not touch down, they require specific polar operations and crew training due to factors like sector whiteout, which contributed to the 1979 Air New Zealand disaster.
Fifth-freedom routes
As of 2024, Qantas operated the following fifth-freedom flight services between the following cities:
Auckland and New York–JFK (part of flights QF4 and QF3 from/to Sydney). This is the fifth-longest scheduled flight in the world.
Singapore and London–Heathrow (part of flights QF2 and QF1 from/to Sydney)
'International' domestic routes to and from Perth
Qantas uses Perth as a transit point for its European services between Sydney and Paris (QF33 and QF34), as well as for a seasonal service between Sydney and Rome (QF5 and QF6). These flights depart and arrive at the international terminal at Sydney Airport despite the Sydney–Perth segment of these flights being domestic. As Qantas is an Australian airline, it is permitted to carry, and sells tickets for domestic passengers intending to fly solely between Sydney and Perth. Qantas issues domestic passengers on these flights with an orange 'D' sticker that allows them to bypass customs and immigration, and passports are not necessary for these passengers.
Codeshare agreements
As of June 2025, Qantas had codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
Fleet
Current fleet
As of November 2024, the Qantas Group and its subsidiaries operate 308 aircraft, including 85 aircraft by Jetstar Airways; 90 by the various QantasLink-branded airlines and eight by Express Freighters Australia (on behalf of Qantas Freight).
The group also has over 150 narrow-body and 36 wide-body aircraft firm orders as of August 2024, across the Airbus A220, Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo, Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 families to replace the existing fleet over the following decade, with these aircraft being distributed amongst Qantas, QantasLink and Jetstar.
Cabin
International
First
First class is available on the Airbus A380 and future A350s.
It offers 14 individual suites in a 1–1–1 layout. The seats face forward for takeoff, but can rotate to the side for sleeping and dining with 83.5in seat pitch (extending to a 212 cm fully flat bed) and a width of 74 cm (29 in). Each suite contains a 43 cm (17 in) widescreen monitor. In addition to AC power outlets, USB ports are also offered. Passengers are also able to utilise the lounge on the upper deck. Complimentary access to both the first class and business class lounges (or affiliated lounges) is offered as well.
Updated versions of this seat were fitted to the airline's refurbished Airbus A380 aircraft from late 2019. The seat features refreshed cushioning and larger entertainment screens compared to the older version.
Business
Business Suites
Business Suites are available on all Boeing 787, Airbus A330, and selected Airbus A380 aircraft.
These seats are lie-flat and are in a 1–2–1 configuration. The Business Suite was introduced on the A330 in October 2014, and includes a Panasonic touchscreen eX3 system. By the end of 2016, the business class seats of Qantas' entire Airbus A330 fleet were refitted. Airbus A330 Business Suites are available on Asian routes, transcontinental routes across Australia and selected routes to New Zealand.
Updated versions of this seat were fitted to the airline's new Boeing 787 fleet from late 2017.
Premium Economy
Premium economy class is offered on all Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
On the Airbus A380, the seat pitch ranges from 97 to 107 cm (38 to 42 in), with a width of 50 cm (19+1⁄2 in). On the Boeing 787, it is configured in a 2–3–2 seating arrangement, whereas it is in a 2–3–2 seating arrangement at the rear of the upper deck on the A380. The total number of seats depends on the aircraft type, as A380s have 35–60 seats, (depending on the configuration) and 787s have 28 seats.
In 2019, Qantas began retrofitting its Airbus A380 aircraft with new Premium Economy seats, as offered on Boeing 787 aircraft. The new cabin will gain 25 premium economy seats compared to the previous configuration.
Economy
International Economy class is available on all Qantas mainline passenger aircraft.