Qantas

Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited.[10] The airline's first aircraft was an Avro 504K. The airline flew internationally from May 1935, when it commenced service from Darwin, Northern Territory to Singapore. In June 1959 Qantas entered the jet age when the first Boeing 707-138 was delivered.[11]

In 1920 Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd had its headquarters in Winton, Queensland. In 1921 the head office moved to Longreach, Queensland. In 1930 the head office moved to Brisbane. In 1957 a head office, Qantas House, opened along Hunter Street in Sydney.[12] In the 1970s a new A$50 million headquarters, consisting of twin skyscrapers, was being built in Sydney and expected to take one city block. The first and largest tower had an expected completion time in 1973.[13]

On 14 September 1992, Qantas acquired domestic airline, Australian Airlines, which was originally established as Trans Australia Airlines in the 1940s and renamed Australian Airlines in 1986.[14] The airline started to be rebranded to Qantas in the following year.

Corporate affairs[edit]

Key business trends[edit]

Qantas Boeing 747-400 on final approach to 27L at London Heathrow Airport, 2004

The key trends for the Qantas Group (Qantas Airways Ltd and Controlled Entities), which includes Jetstar and Qantas Cargo, are shown below (as at year ending 30 June):

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Turnover (A$m) 15,627 14,552 13,772 14,894 15,724 15,902 15,352 15,816

Profits (Statutory profit/loss after tax) (A$m) 970 123 116 249 −244 6 −2,843 560

Number of employees (FTE) 33,670 33,966 32,489 33,169 33,584 33,265 30,751 28,622

Number of passengers (m) 38.6 38.4 41.4 44.5 46.7 48.2 48.8 49.2

Passenger load factor (%) 80.7 79.6 80.8 80.1 80.1 79.3 77.4 79.1

Number of aircraft (at year end) 224 229 254 283 308 312 308 299

Notes/sources [15] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]...