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澳洲航空公司官方网站网址:http://www.qantas.com.au/

　　澳洲航空公司(QANTAS),或称澳大利亚快达航空公司，简称澳航。

　　澳洲航空公司成立于1920年，是澳大利亚最大型及历史最悠久的航空公司，同时也是全球历史第三悠长的，在荷兰国营的KLM及哥伦比亚的Avianca航空之后。

　　澳航集团经营的航空业务包括澳洲航空、QantasLink、捷星和捷星亚洲，以及其他与航空相关的各种业务。

　　历史悠久的澳航袋鼠标志，象征著可靠、安全、先进技术及优质服务。

　　澳洲航空提供航班服务来往香港及澳洲，当中城市包括阿得莱德、布里斯本、开恩兹、黄金海岸、墨尔本、柏斯和悉尼。

　　除此之外，澳洲航空每天提供不停站航班服务来往香港及伦敦。

　　Beginnings

　　Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited[1] by Paul McGuiness, Hudson Fysh, Fergus McMaster and Arthur Baird. The airline's first aircraft was an Avro 504K purchased for ￡1425. The aircraft had a cruising speed of 105 kilometres per hour (65 mph) and carried one pilot and two passengers.Eighty-four year old outback pioneer Alexander Kennedy was the first passenger, receiving ticket number one. 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 DH9 under licence in its Longreach hangar.In 1928 a chartered Qantas aircraft conducted the inaugural flight of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, departing from Cloncurry.

　　Flying boats and war — 1934 to 1945

　　In 1934, QANTAS Limited and Britain's Imperial Airways (the forerunner of British Airways) formed a new company, Qantas Empire Airways Limited. 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 old fashioned DH50 and DH61 biplanes.

　　QEA went international from May 1935, when the service from Darwin was extended to Singapore using newer de Havilland DH-86 Commonwealth Airliners. 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 Shorts S.23 Empire Flying Boats. The Sydney to Southampton service took nine days, with passengers staying in hotels overnight.[6] For the single year of peace that the service operated, it was profitable and 94% of services were on time. This service lasted through 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 PBY Catalinas in July 1943, with flights between Perth and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). This linked up with the BOAC service to London, maintaining the vital communications link with England. The 5,652km 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 "Order of the Double Sunrise" as the sun rose twice during the flight. These flights continued until July 1945.

　　The post-war years — 1945 to 1959

澳航波音747-400

　　After World War II, QEA was nationalised, with the Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Ben Chifley buying the shares of both Qantas Limited and BOAC. Nationalised airlines were normal at the time, and the Qantas board encouraged this move.

　　Shortly after nationalisation, QEA began their 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 cooperation with BOAC, but were soon replaced by Douglas DC-4s. Services to Hong Kong began around the same time.

　　In 1948, the airline took delivery of Lockheed L.049 Constellations. In 1952, Qantas expanded across the Indian Ocean to Johannesburg via Perth, Cocos Islands and Mauritius, calling this the Wallaby Route. Around this time, the British Government placed great pressure on 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 was expanded across the Pacific to Vancouver via Auckland, Nadi, Honolulu and San Francisco in early 1954 when it took over the operations of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA). This became known as the Southern Cross Route.

　　In 1956, Qantas became the first non US airline to order the Boeing 707 jet airliner. Contrary to popular belief, 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. The airline successfully negotiated with Boeing to have the aircraft they had originally contracted for.

　　In 1958, Qantas became one of the very few around-the-world airlines, operating round-the-world services from Australia to London via Asia and the Middle East (Kangaroo route) and via the Southern Cross route with Super Constellations.It took delivery of new turboprop Lockheed Electra aircraft in 1959.

　　The jet age — 1959 to 1992

　　The first jet aircraft on the Australian register (and the 29th 707 built) was registered VH-EBA and named City of Canberra. This aircraft returned to Australia as VH-XBA in December 2006 for display in the Qantas Founders Outback Museum at Longreach, Queensland.The Boeing 707-138 was a shorter version of the Boeing 707 that was operated only by Qantas. 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 Atlantic — after BOAC and Pan Am, operating between London and New York as part of the service from Sydney.All of the turbojet aircraft were converted to upgraded turbofan engines in 1961 and were rebranded as V jets from the Latin vannus meaning fan.

　　Air travel grew substantially in the early 1960s, leading Qantas to order the larger Boeing 707-338C series of aircraft. In 1966, the airline diversified its business by opening the 450 room Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. The same year, Qantas placed early options on the new Concorde airliner. At the time supersonic flight was thought of as the way of the future, but along with most airlines in the world the orders were eventually cancelled. Also in 1966, another around-the-world route was opened, the Fiesta route. Sydney to London via Tahiti, Mexico City, and Bermuda.

　　In 1967, the airline placed orders for the new Boeing 747. The aircraft could seat up to 350 passengers, a major improvement over the Boeing 707-138's. Orders were placed for four aircraft with deliveries commencing in 1971. The later delivery date allowed Qantas to take advantage of the -200B version, which better suited its requirements. Also in 1967, Qantas Empire Airways changed its name to just Qantas Airways, the name of the airline today.

　　When Cyclone Tracy devastated the one horse town of Darwin at Christmas 1974, Qantas established a world record for the most people ever embarked on a single aircraft when they evacuated 673 people on a single Boeing 747 flight. They also established a record embarking 327 people on Boeing 707 VH-EAH. Later in the decade, Qantas placed options on two McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft for flights to Wellington, New Zealand. These were not taken up, and two Boeing 747SP were ordered instead. In March 1979, Qantas operated its final Boeing 707 flight from Auckland to Sydney, and became the only airline in the world to have a fleet that consisted of Boeing 747s only. That same year Qantas introduced Business class — the first airline in the world to do so.

　　The Boeing 767-200 was introduced in 1985,for New Zealand, Asia and Pacific routes. The same year, the Boeing 747-300 was introduced, featuring a stretched upper deck. The Boeing 747 fleet was upgraded from 1989 with the arrival of the new Boeing 747-400 series. The delivery flight of the first aircraft was a world record, flying the 18,001km from London to Sydney non-stop.

　　In 1990, Qantas established Australia Asia Airlines to operate services to Taiwan. Several Boeing 747SP and Boeing 767 aircraft were transferred from Qantas service. The airline ceased operations in 1996.

　　Privatisation — 1992 to the present

　　The Australian Government sold the domestic carrier Australian Airlines to Qantas in August 1992, giving it access to the national domestic market for the first time in its history. The purchase saw the introduction of the Boeing 737 and Airbus A300 to the fleet — though the A300s were soon retired.Qantas was privatised in March 1993, with British Airways taking a 25% stake in the airline for A$665m.After a number of delays, the remainder of the Qantas float proceeded in 1995. The public share offer took place in June and July of that year, with the government receiving A$1.45b in proceeds. The remaining shares were disposed of in 1995-96 and 1996-97.Investors outside Australia took a strong interest in the float, securing 20% of the stock which, together with British Airways 25% holding, meant that, once floated on the stock exchange, Qantas was 55% Australian owned and 45% foreign owned. By law, Qantas must be at least 51% Australian-owned, and the level of foreign ownership is constantly monitored.

　　In 1998, Qantas co-founded the oneworld alliance with American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, and Cathay Pacific. The alliance commenced operation in February 1999 , with Iberia and Finnair joining later that year. Oneworld markets itself at the premium travel market, offering passengers a larger network than the airlines could on their own. The airlines also work together to provide operational synergies to keep costs down.

　　The main domestic competitor to Qantas, Ansett Australia, collapsed on 14 September 2001.Market share for Qantas immediately neared 90%, with the relatively new budget airline Virgin Blue holding the remainder. In order to capitalise on this event, Qantas ordered Boeing 737-800 aircraft — obtaining them a mere three months later.This unusually short time between order and delivery was possible due to the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September — the subsequent downturn in the US aviation market meant American Airlines no longer needed the aircraft they ordered. The delivery positions were reassigned to Qantas on condition the aircraft remained in American Airlines configuration for later possible lease purposes.

　　At the same time, Virgin Blue announced a major expansion in October 2001,which was successful in eventually pushing the Qantas domestic market share back to 60%. To prevent any further loss of market share, Qantas responded by creating a new cut-price subsidiary airline Jetstar. This has been successful in keeping the status quo at around 65% for Qantas group and 30% for Virgin Blue with other regional airlines accounting for the rest of the market.

　　On 13 December 2004, the first flight of Jetstar Asia Airways took off from its Singapore hub to Hong Kong, marking Qantas' entry into the Asian cut-price market. Qantas owns 44.5% of the carrier.

　　Qantas has also expanded into the New Zealand domestic air travel market, firstly with a shareholding in Air New Zealand and then with a franchise takeover of Ansett New Zealand. In 2003, Qantas attempted and failed to obtain regulatory approval to purchase a larger (but still minority) stake in Air New Zealand. Subsequently Qantas stepped up competition on the trans-Tasman routes, recently introducing Jetstar to New Zealand. British Airways sold its 18.5% stake in Qantas in September 2004 for ￡425 million, though keeping its close ties with Qantas intact.

　　Qantas had also developed a full-service all economy international carrier focused on the holiday and leisure market, which had taken on the formerly used Australian Airlines name. This airline ceased operating its own liveried aircraft in July 2006, with the staff operating Qantas services before being closed entirely in September 2007, with the staff joining the new Qantas base in Cairns.

　　Airline Partners Australia takeover bid

　　In December 2006 following detailed negotiations, the Qantas Board had received a revised proposal from Airline Partners Australia to acquire 100 percent of the Company for $5.60 ($5.45 after special distribution) cash per share. Subsequently the Qantas Board recommended the revised Offer From Airline Partners Australia, a consortium comprising Allco Equity partners, Texas Pacific, Macquarie Bank, Onex and Allco Finance.

　　Margaret Jackson ( Former Chairman) said the revised proposal provided an attractive premium for Qantas shareholders, being:

• 33 percent higher than the closing share price of $4.20 on 6 November 2006, the day before the first speculation about the offer; and
• 61 percent above Qantas' volume weighted average share price of $3.48 over the six months to that date.

　　The proposal will be implemented by way of an off-market takeover bid, which will be subject to certain conditions including a 90 percent minimum acceptance condition.

　　The revised proposal followed negotiations with APA since the Board's rejection of its initial proposal. These negotiations resulted in the removal of unacceptable conditions and a substantial break fee as well as an increase in the price from $5.50 to $5.60 per share.

　　Under the terms of the offer, the interim dividend that would otherwise be payable in April 2007 will not be available. However, the Board decided that a fully franked special dividend could be paid during the bid period, in which case the offer consideration would be reduced by the dividend amount.

　　The take over proposal involves:

• Qantas transitioning to a privately owned company and de-listing from the Australian Securities Exchange;
• Qantas remaining majority owned and controlled by Australians; and
• retention of the current management team, who will invest in the privately owned company.

　　Mr Geoff Dixon would continue as Chief Executive Officer and Mr Peter Gregg would remain Chief Financial Officer under the new ownership structure.

　　As of the start of April 2007 only 30% of shares had been secured by APA, so on 12 April 2007 the consortium lowered the minimum acceptance level to 70 percent. On Friday evening 4 May 2007, APA announced that it appeared its offer had failed to reach the 50 per cent level required for the $11.1 billion private equity buyout to proceed. The consortium had only secured 46 per cent of the national carrier by the 7.00pm deadline for the takeover offer that day. APA was counting on a last-minute rush of acceptances from hedge funds to get the deal over the line. On Saturday 5 May 2007 the APA said a late acceptance from a large investor (Samuel Heyman)received after the 7:00pm deadline the previous evening meant it intended to press ahead with the bid. However, after the late acceptance was denied by the takeover board, APA decided to accept that the bid had failed, rather than pursue a protracted and uncertain legal battle in an attempt to keep it alive.

　　Its main international hubs are Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport and Melbourne Airport. However, Qantas operates a significant number of international flights into and out of Singapore Changi Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, London Heathrow Airport, Brisbane Airport and Perth Airport. Its domestic hubs are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth airports, but the company also has a strong presence in, Adelaide, Cairns and Canberra airports. It serves a range of international and domestic destinations.

　　Qantas wholly owns Jetstar Airways, and JetConnect (which operates New Zealand domestic services) and QantasLink (including, Airlink, Sunstate and Eastern Australia Airlines).Qantas did have a minor 4.2% stake in Air New Zealand, however this was sold on 26 Jun 2007 for $NZ119 million. Qantas owns 49% of the Fiji-based international carrier Air Pacific. It owns 50% of both Australian Air Express and Star Track Express (a trucking company)[34], with the other 50% of both companies owned by Australia Post. Since its privatisation in 1993, Qantas has been one of the most profitable airlines in the world.It was recently voted 2nd best airline in the world in the 2006 World Airline Awards (with surveys conducted by Skytrax) behind British Airways.

　　Qantas has stepped up the expansion of Jetstar, with the launch of international services (in addition to existing trans-Tasman and Jetstar Asia flights) to leisure destinations such as Bali, Ho Chi Minh City, Osaka and Honolulu from November 2006. On some routes such as Sydney-Honolulu, Jetstar will supplement existing Qantas operations but many routes are new to the network. The lower cost base of Jetstar allows the previously unprofitable or marginal routes to be operated at greater profitability.

　　In recent years it has announced substantial new aircraft orders. Qantas ordered twelve Airbus A380-800, with options for twelve more. It will be the second airline (after launch customer Singapore Airlines) to receive an A380 and is now expected to receive four aircraft by the end of 2008 and seven by mid-2009, after Airbus reported further delays in the delivery. Qantas exercised 8 options on A380s, increasing firm orders to 20 on 29 October 2006. All aircraft are due to be delivered between 2008 to 2015. An additional four A330-200 aircraft (VH-EBE to EBH) were ordered to address capacity concerns due to the A380's service entry delay.

　　On 14 December 2005 Qantas announced an order for 115 Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft (45 firm orders, 20 options and 50 purchase rights).[39] The aircraft will allow Qantas to replace their 767-300 fleet, increase capacity and establish new routes. Jetstar will also operate 10 of the new aircraft on international routes.This announcement came after a long battle between Boeing and Airbus to meet the airline's needs for fleet renewal and future routes. The first of the 787s are scheduled to be delivered to Jetstar in August 2008, with the 787-9s coming in 2011.

　　Although Qantas did not choose the Boeing 777-200LR, it is rumoured that Qantas is still looking into buying aircraft capable of flying London-Sydney non-stop.

　　Qantas has offered a special promotion to American and Canadian tourists for several years called the "Aussie AirPass". It permits tourists to fly into Australia and receive up to three flight segments to various Australian locales for a flat fee.

　　Promotional activities

　　Qantas used a small promotional animation on its website to officially announce it will offer in-flight internet services on its fleet of A380s.Qantas also announced that it would trial in-flight use of mobile phones on one of its Boeing 767 aircraft. This will allow customers to send emails and text messages on board, but will not allow phone calls whilst in flight.Qantas has also launched Online Check in (OLCI) for its domestic Australian flights. Customers are now able to log on to qantas.com 24 hours before their flight departs, select their seat and print a boarding pass, enabling them to bypass check-in at the terminal.It recently re-introduced hot face towels for economy class on all long haul flights.

　　Qantas is responsible for some of the most successful marketing campaigns in Australian history[citation needed], with many advertising campaigns featuring renditions by children's choirs of Peter Allen's "I Still Call Australia Home", set to footage of breathtaking scenery. A much earlier campaign aimed at American television audiences featured an Australian koala, who of all things detested Qantas for bringing tourists to destroy his quiet life (his key tagline: "I hate Qantas"). Qantas is the main and shirt sponsor of the "Qantas Wallabies", the Australian national Rugby Union team.They also sponsor and have shirt rights to the Socceroos, who are Australia's national soccer team.