One hundred years ago to the day, Qantas flew its first bag of letters across the Queensland outback. Today, Qantas will recreate the journey.
That first flight in 1922 was piloted by Qantas co-founders and pilots Paul McGinness, from Charleville to Longreach, and Hudson Fysh, from Longreach to Cloncurry and took just over two days.
Today, a Bombardier Q400 turboprop will follow the 882 kilometre route originally taken by an open-cockpit FK8 biplane, and will carry another bag of mail, this time containing 106 handwritten letters from schoolchildren in Charleville to kids in Longreach and Cloncurry.
Also onboard will be the family of those Qantas founders, top tier frequent flyers, and guests with a connection to the early Queensland airmail services.
Avgeeks can follow QF6661’s journey which will be featured flight on FlightRadar24.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the centenary flight marked a significant milestone for Qantas and Australia Post and was a defining moment in Australia’s aviation history.
“This flight celebrates the entrepreneurship and innovation of our founders a century ago, that still exists in Qantas’ DNA today,” Joyce said.
“Our founding chairman Fergus McMaster prophetically described our first flight as a ‘small beginning which would develop into one of the greatest services in the world’.
“Qantas has gone from that single biplane flight 100 years ago to the brink of a new era of aviation with our Airbus A350s on order, positioning us to fly people and parcels direct from Australia to any city in the world.
New Australia Post jet
Joyce spoke of the growing partnership between Australia Post and Qantas which is currently preparing for a record Christmas period thanks to online retail demand.
In fact, Qantas is converting one of its A330 widebody passenger aircraft into another dedicated Australia Post freighter.
A further six A321P2Fs have been approved to join the Qantas Freight fleet from 2023. These aircraft will have 60 per cent more capacity than the Boeing 737s they’re replacing and up to 35 per cent more fuel efficient.
And in a move that will surely have avgeeks and philatelists lining up at their local post office, Australia Post has launched a commemorative My Stamps collection of 12 stamps featuring a range of historic images.
Qantas will host Aussie travel advisors at the first in-person Qantas Distribution Platform Technology Partner showcase in Sydney.
Visit Qantas.com for more.
