On Wednesday, Qantas revealed a new nostalgic onboard safety video that touts the carrier’s one hundred years of style and innovation. Additionally, a traveling exhibition showcasing the carrier’s history will visit Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne and Perth.
This year, the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (Qantas) will join the exclusive club of airlines that have been in business for 100 years. As part of the year-long celebration, the carrier unveiled on Wednesday (February 26, 2020), a new onboard safety video celebrating a century of innovation and style. Additionally, Qantas announced a traveling exhibition which will showcase “One Hundred Years of Qantas and Beyond.”
The “Qantas 100” onboard safety video takes guests through Qantas’ 100 years of style innovation from 1920s era propeller aircraft to 1940s flying boats, a 1950s Lockheed Constellation, the start of the jet age in the sixties with a Boeing 707 and a seventies-era 747 First Class lounge and beyond. Regarding the safety video, Qantas Group’s CEO Alan Joyce said,
“This safety video is a look back at the different styles of aircraft, service and uniforms that have been part of our long history. And it calls out the contribution Qantas and its people have made to aviation, like the invention of the slide raft, as well as the carrier’s role in connecting Australia to the world.”
Another part of Qantas’ centenary celebration is a fully immersive exhibition which will tour four capital cities including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The exhibition, which is called “Qantas Centenary – 100 Years of the Spirit of Australia” will open on June 27, 2020 in the same state as the national carrier at Brisbane’s Queensland Museum. The exhibition will remain in Brisbane until November 16, 2020, the 100th anniversary of the airline. Between December 2020 and April 2021, the exhibition will be on display at the State Library of NSW in Sydney. From June through August 2021 visitors can tour the exhibition at the Scienceworks Museum in Melbourne and the final exhibition will take place in Perth from December 2021 to February 2022. Speaking on the touring exhibition, Qantas Group’s CEO, Alan Joyce added,
“The story of Qantas is the story of modern Australia and the Centenary Exhibition will showcase the national carrier’s history and role in Australia like never before. For almost 100 years, Qantas has been taking Australians to the world and visitors will be able to quite literally walk through this journey and immerse themselves in a century of their national carrier. Qantas is now, and has been for the past 100 years, at the global forefront of aviation. As much as this exhibition celebrates a century of Qantas history, it’s also about the history of aviation. Just like Qantas itself, the exhibition will begin in Queensland before taking 100 years of the Spirit of Australia across Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.”
The exhibit will feature unique and memorable artifacts such as the scrapbooks of Qantas co-founder Fergus McMaster, an interactive recreation of Qantas’ current integrated operations center and a futuristic aircraft made entirely out of wool (created in collaboration with Woolmark and Qantas designer David Caon). Exhibit guests will also delight in a replica 1970s Boeing 747 First Class Lounge and look at the effects of long-haul flight through an immersive interactive experience.
Source: Qantas