From Qantas.com– Qantas Celebrates 90 Years as Australia’s Leading Airline – 6 November 2010- Hollywood superstar John Travolta today helped Qantas kick off its 90th anniversary celebrations, with the first of a series of major events during November.
Mr Travolta, Qantas’ Ambassador-at-Large, piloted his Boeing 707 aircraft to Australia today to join Qantas employees and their families and friends at the first of three special open days – in Sydney, to be followed by Brisbane (7 November) and Melbourne (13 November), building towards the anniversary date of 16 November.
Qantas Chief Executive Officer, Mr Alan Joyce, said the anniversary was an opportunity to reflect on the airline’s history and acknowledge its over 35,000 employees.
“During November we will be celebrating Qantas’ nine decades of flying and looking forward to our future as the national carrier and an aviation industry leader.
“Since its foundation in Queensland in 1920, Qantas has always been dedicated to the highest standards of safety, innovation and customer service.
“Qantas’ greatest strength is, and has always been, its people – so we are delighted to be opening up our engineering facilities in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne for three special events.
“These open days will feature aircraft from Qantas’ past and present fleets and, of course, we are welcoming John Travolta back to Australia on board his Boeing 707, a former Qantas aircraft in period livery.
“John is a passionate pilot and an outstanding ambassador for Qantas – who better to help us cut our 90th birthday cake?”
On Nov 9 2010, John Travolta hosted 20 lucky prize winners onboard his Qantas Boeing 707 as part of Qantas’ 90th anniversary celebrations. The prize winners entered competitions in Australia, Germany, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the US to win flights to Australia with Qantas, accommodation in Sydney and a trip on John Travolta’s aircraft around Sydney. Guests were delighted with the two hour journey which included views over Canberra’s snow capped mountains, and Sydney’s Opera House and Sydney Harbour. Onboard, guests were treated to a champagne lunch and once at altitude, John Travolta left the cockpit in the hands of the flight crew while he mingled with guests onboard. Once back in Sydney, passengers relayed their once in a life time experience to media, family and friends.
A micro-site dedicated to Qantas’ 90th anniversary, including historical information, downloadable images and videos, can be found in the Media Room at: http://www.qantas.com.au/
Issued by Qantas Corporate Communication (5031)