Qantas is Australia's largest airline. Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland, on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited by Paul McGinness, Sir Hudson Fysh and Sir Fergus McMaster, the latter of whom was chairman. Arthur Baird was employed as a chief aircraft engineer. McGinness left QANTAS for other interests, and Hudson Fysh remained with the company as General Manager & Managing Director. He retired as Sir Hudson Fysh KBE DFC, Chairman of Qantas in 1966.

Initially, the airline operated taxi and joy flights, as well as airmail services subsidised by the Australian government, linking railheads in western Queensland. Between 1926 and 1928 Qantas built several aircraft in Longreach and made the inaugural flight of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, departing from Cloncurry. Qantas Empire Airways Limited (QEA) was formed by Qantas and Britain's Imperial Airways in 1934. They flew internationally from May 1935, when the service from Darwin was extended to Singapore. As operations expanded with flying boat services, World War II disrupted air travel until 1943. In 1947, QEA was nationalised, with the Australian Labor government buying the shares. In the same year, the airline took delivery of Lockheed L-749 Constellations and these took over the trunk route to London. In 1958, Qantas became the second round-the-world airline, flying Super Constellations westward from Australia to London through Asia and the Middle East.

In 1956, Qantas ordered the Boeing 707 jet airliner, and the first was delivered in June 1959. The first jet service operated by Qantas was on 29 July 1959 from Sydney to San Francisco via Nadi and Honolulu. On 5 September 1959 Qantas became the third airline to fly jets across the North Atlantic. In 1966, the airline diversified its business by opening the 450-room Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. In 1967, the airline placed orders for the Boeing 747, and Qantas Empire Airways changed its name to Qantas Airways. When Cyclone Tracy devastated the town of Darwin at Christmas 1974, Qantas established a world record for the most people ever embarked on a single aircraft when it evacuated 673 people on a single Boeing 747 flight. In March 1979, Qantas operated its final Boeing 707 flight from Auckland to Sydney, and until the delivery of the first Boeing 767 in 1985 became the only national airline in the world to have a fleet consisting of a single aircraft type.

The Boeing 747 fleet was upgraded from 1989 with the arrival of the new Boeing 747-400 series. The delivery flight of the first 747-400 was a world record for commercial aircraft, flying the from London to Sydney non-stop. The Australian Government sold the domestic carrier Australian Airlines to Qantas in August 1992. This provided Qantas access to the Australian domestic market for the first time in its history. Qantas was privatised in two stages, first by a sale of 25% to British Airways in 1993 and the remaining 75% by public float in mid-1995. Qantas ordered twelve Airbus A380-800s in 2000 and was soon the third airline to receive A380s, after Singapore Airlines and Emirates. The airline created a new cut-price subsidiary airline, Jetstar after Virgin Blue expanded in October 2001. On 13 December 2004, the first flight of Jetstar Asia took off from its Singapore hub to Hong Kong, marking Qantas' entry into the Asian cut-price market.

Before 29 October 2011, Qantas operated a significant number of international flights into and out of Singapore Changi, Auckland Airport, Brisbane Airport, Los Angeles International and London Heathrow airports. Qantas has been one of the most profitable airlines in the world. In 2008, the first Qantas Airbus A380 was handed over by Airbus at a ceremony on 19 September. The first route for the A380 was Melbourne to Los Angeles.

History

Beginnings: 1920 to 1934 Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited by Paul McGinness and Hudson Fysh. Fergus McMaster joined them as chairman, as did Arthur Baird to take care of aircraft maintenance. McGinness left QANTAS for other interests in 1922, and Hudson Fysh remained with the company as General Manager & Managing Director. He retired as Sir Hudson Fysh KBE DFC, Chairman of QANTAS in 1966.

The airline's first aircraft was an Avro 504K purchased for £1425. The aircraft had a cruising speed of and carried one pilot and two passengers. On 2 November 1922, eighty-four-year-old outback pioneer Alexander Kennedy became the first passenger on the first scheduled service (piloted by Hudson Fysh) receiving ticket number one for a flight from Longreach to Cloncurry. The airline operated air mail services subsidised by the Australian government, linking railheads in western Queensland.

Between 1926 and 1928, Qantas built seven de Havilland DH.50s and a single DH.9 under licence in its Longreach hangar. In 1928 a chartered Qantas aircraft made the inaugural flight of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, departing from Cloncurry.

Flying boats and war: 1934 to 1945

In 1934, QANTAS Limited and Britain's Imperial Airways (a forerunner of British Airways) formed a new company, Qantas Empire Airways Limited (QEA). Each partner held 49%, with two per cent in the hands of an independent arbitrator. The new airline commenced operations in December 1934 flying between Brisbane and Darwin using obsolescent DH.50 and de Havilland DH.61 biplanes.

QEA flew internationally from May 1935, when the service from Darwin was extended to Singapore using newer de Havilland DH.86s. Imperial Airways operated the rest of the service through to London. In July 1938 this operation was replaced by a thrice-weekly flying boat service using Short S.23 Empire flying boats. The Sydney to Southampton service took nine days, with passengers staying in hotels overnight. For the single year of peace that the service operated, it was profitable and 94% of services were on time. After Italy entered the war in June 1940, this became the Horseshoe Route between Sydney and Durban in South Africa with South Africa – UK stage being by the sea. This service was a vital line of communication between Australia and the United Kingdom and lasted until Singapore fell in February 1942. Enemy action and accidents destroyed half of the fleet of ten when most of the fleet was taken over by the Australian government for war service.

Flying boat services were resumed with American-built Consolidated PBY Catalinas on 10 July 1943, with flights between Swan River, Perth and Koggala lake in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in a service that was named "The Double Sunrise". This linked up with the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, the successor airline to Imperial Airways) service to London, maintaining the vital communications link with England. The 5,652 km non-stop sector was the longest flown up to that time by any airline, with an average flying time of 28 hours. Passengers received a certificate of membership to The Rare and Secret Order of the Double Sunrise as the sun rose twice during the westbound portion of the route.

In 1944 the Catalinas were augmented by conventional Consolidated B-24 Liberators, flying from Ratmalana via RAF Minneriya for refueling and then across the ocean to Learmonth. Later, Avro Lancastrians were flown on the route. They flew from Sydney to Gawler, stopping in Adelaide for refuelling, and on to Learmonth for the overnight stage. On the next leg of the trip, they flew to Ratmalana, where the aircraft refuelled, then on to Karachi, where BOAC crews took over for the final segment of the journey to the UK. The lengthening of the runway at Ratmalana enabled the diversion to Minneria to be eliminated, and soon Ratmalana was replaced by RAF Negombo. The service was renamed the Kangaroo Service and the passenger award became The Order of the Longest Hop. It was on this route that the Kangaroo logo was first used. After the war, the return trip could also go from Colombo to Cocos Islands, then to Perth on to Sydney. These flights continued until 5 April 1946.

The post-war years: 1945 to 1959

In 1947, QEA was nationalised, with the Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley buying the shares owned by BOAC, followed by those of QANTAS Limited. Nationalised airlines were normal at the time, and the Qantas board encouraged this move. After the completion of the buyout, QANTAS Limited was wound up and liquidated to shareholders.

Shortly after nationalisation, QEA began its first services outside the British Empire-to Tokyo via Darwin and Manila with Avro Lancastrian aircraft. These aircraft were also deployed between Sydney and London in co-operation with BOAC, but were soon replaced by Douglas DC-4s. Services to Hong Kong began in 1949 as well.

In 1947 the airline took delivery of Lockheed L-749 Constellations and these took over the trunk route to London. Flying boats again entered the fleet from 1950, when the first of five Short Sandringham aircraft entered service for flights between the Rose Bay flying boat base on Sydney Harbour and destinations in New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Fiji, New Guinea (dubbed the "Bird of Paradise" route) and Lord Howe Island.

In 1952 Qantas expanded services across the Indian Ocean to Johannesburg via Melbourne, Perth, the Cocos Islands, Réunion and Mauritius, calling this the Wallaby Route. Around this time, the British Government pressured Qantas to purchase the de Havilland Comet jet airliner, but Hudson Fysh was dubious about the economics of the aircraft and successfully resisted this. The network expanded across the Pacific to Vancouver via Auckland, Nadi, Honolulu and San Francisco in early 1954 when it took over the Southern Cross Route of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA). The first of the airline's Lockheed 1049 Super Constellations was delivered in early 1954.

In January 1958 Qantas became the second round-the-world airline, flying Super Constellations west from Australia to London through Asia and the Middle East on the Kangaroo route, and east to London on the Southern Cross route. At their inaugural flight on 14 January, Super Constellation VH-EAO flew eastbound, while its counterpart VH-EAP flew westbound. They both reached London and then returned in Sydney on 20 January. Later, a Lockheed Electra aircraft inaugurated flights to New Zealand in 1961.

In September 1956 Qantas ordered the Boeing 707-138 jet airliner and the first was delivered in June 1959. This order made the airline the first customer for the type outside the US. The special shortened version for Qantas was the original version Boeing offered to airlines. Boeing lengthened the aircraft by ten feet for all other customers, which destroyed the economics for Qantas Pacific routes. The airline successfully negotiated with Boeing to have the aircraft for which it had originally contracted. This order was later followed up by another purchase by Qantas of the same variant. In March 1960 the airline ordered six of the turbofan derivative, Boeing 707-138B, with delivery scheduled for the following year.

The jet age: 1959 to 1992