The national airline of Australia is Qantas. Maintaining its main hub at Sydney International Airport, Quantas also has smaller hubs at Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane. It runs international flights into Brisbane, Perth, Singapore, London, and Los Angeles.

Founded in 1920, Qantas is the world’s second oldest airline in continuous operation, and the oldest airline in continuous operation in the English-speaking world. It maintains membership in the Oneworld alliance, one of the planet’s premier airline alliance programs.

Qantas Airlines is a private company and one of the most profitable airlines in the world.  Qantas Airlines was voted Third Best Airline in the World in the 2008 World Airline Awards.  The company and its affiliates maintain hundreds of aircraft and fly Airbus and Boeing planes. Qantas names its aircrafts after Greek gods, stars, famous Australian aviators, Australian birds and Australian cities.

The name Qantas, always spelled without a “u,” is an acronym for “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.”

Adventure seekers who want to Antarctica can fly Qantas charters organized by Croydon Travel. Qantas flew its first Antarctic sight-seeing trips in 1977. These summer trips were suspended in 1979 after the crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 on Mt. Erebus, but restarted in 1994. Antarctic flights now require specific crew training in polar operations so that pilots and crew can handle whiteouts such as those that contributed to the 1979 disaster.

Qantas believes in rewarding customer loyalty, which is the basis of its frequent flyer program.  Passengers accrue points based on distance flown, with bonuses that vary by travel class.  Points can be earned on both Qantas flights and Oneworld alliance member flights. Qantas has faced criticism regarding availability of seats for members redeeming points, so Qantas overhauled its frequent flyer program in July 2008.  The two key new features are Any Seat rewards, in which members can redeem any seat on the plane at a price. The second new feature is Points Plus Pay, where members can use a combination of cash and points to redeem an award.

The first airline to allow cell phone use during flights, Qantas also provides seat-back access to email and web browsing and wireless internet. It also offers an extensive in-flight entertainment system. Some planes use Mainscreen, where drop-down video menus offer either television programs or recent films, depending on the length of the flight. Other planes use Total Entertainment, which is an on-demand audio/video system.

Quantas has recently announced a program to offset its carbon emissions. The program encourages passengers to fly carbon-neutral, and allows them to pay for their offsets in either frequent flier points of cash. Qantas donates program proceeds to government-certified carbon offset projects with a Greenhouse Friendly authentication. Professional golfer Greg Norman and Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe are representatives for the program.