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On 16 November 2020, Qantas will mark 100 years since its incorporation as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd.
In the first part of our series on Qantas in the UK, we looked at Qantas early co-operation with Imperial Airways and BOAC and its own first flights to London.
Over the course of the 1960s, Qantas entered the jet age, operating the Boeing 707 on routes from London. This delivered radical improvements to journey times and increased the scope of its global network.
The first Qantas Boeing 707 routes from London operated to Sydney via the Pacific. The first flight departed London on 31 July 1959, two days after its inaugural flight from Sydney to San Francisco.
Passengers could fly from London to Sydney via San Francisco in just over 30 hours, saving over 25 hours’ journey time. It would shortly fly the “Kangaroo Route” to Australia via Singapore.
“Fastest Jets To USA & Australia”
Two years later in 1961 introduced a special version of the Boeing 707 known as the “V Jet”.
This had more powerful engines, delivering more journey time improvements from London to Sydney.
“The V-Jet Express To Hong Kong”
Qantas went on to add more routes to Australia with a third Boeing 707 route to Hong Kong operating twice weekly via Athens / Istanbul, Tehran and New Delhi in 1964.
A fourth route from London to Sydney via Bermuda, Nassau, Mexico City, Acapulco, Tahiti and Fiji in 1965, known as the “Fiesta” route, proved to be relatively short-lived.
By the late 1960s Qantas could claim to be a truly global airline serving many destinations in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The next decade would be marked by an aircraft that delivered the single most radical improvements to travel between the UK and Australia, the Boeing 747.
The Boeing 707 remains a significant part of Qantas’ legacy. Qantas’ first Boeing 707 was restored and brought back to Australia in 2006 by a team of enthusiasts. It now resides at the Qantas Founders Museum at Longreach. You can read the full story of its return on Australian Aviation.
A really fun article. Thanks for doing the historical legwork. Remember my many 707 flights well, mostly on AA and TW.
As an 8 year-old in October 1963, I flew with my mother from London to Sydney on a Qantas 707. The crew gave me a V-Jet Log Book of my journey, and I recall that the plane stopped in Frankfurt, Athens, Cairo, Karachi, Calcutta and Singapore, and took 44 hours. However, I would like to confirm this route by finding any documentation outlining the routes taken at about that time. Any help out there?
44 hours too much. More like 30
In Sept 1966 I flew Qantas V jet Hong Kong to London 17 hours with only two stops at I believe New Delhi and Athens. This was fast compared to BOAC four or five stops in 24 hours