Young flyers reveal their wishlist for Qantas for the next 100 years
Australian kids didn’t hold back when Qantas boss Alan Joyce asked what they wanted from the carrier.
National
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Cheaper flights for kids, rockets on planes to make them go faster and complimentary lolly bags: Qantas’s youngest flyers have given the airline a candid wishlist of what they would like from the national carrier over its next 100 years of operation.
Students from the two primary schools in Winton, outback Queensland (population 800) did not hold back when they had the opportunity to say what they wanted when Qantas executives and board members dropped in for a visit today.
Winton holds a special place in the Qantas story, as one of three towns (along with Longreach and Cloncurry) that lay claim to its origin and early years.
CEO Alan Joyce, Chairman Richard Goyder and most of the board are visiting the region this week as part of the airline’s centenary, which technically happened last year, but the celebrations were delayed because of COVID-19.
Charles, 12, from Winton Public School, had a sizeable list of things he wanted to see from Qantas in its next 100 years.
“Make seats further apart, more and better snacks, bring back the 747s, make first class through the whole plane, make the bathrooms bigger and more pleasant, put a gym in the planes and provide a flight from Winton to Townsville weekly so people in the community that don’t or can’t drive can go out and get to appointments,” he said.
Eleven-year-old Faria from St Patrick’s School suggested a system of surprise economy tickets that were actually for first class seats would be a good idea, while six-year-old George from the Longreach School of Distance Education said he thought Qantas planes could be used to muster cattle on his family’s farm.
“If you need a new plane put rockets on it so the plane can go faster,” he said.
“If you can do this please give me a plane to do the loop-the-loop.”
Mr Joyce thanked the kids for their ideas, saying some of them had real potential.
The airline was looking at putting in exercise areas in its long-haul planes as part of Project Sunrise, its ambitious plan to fly non-stop from eastern Australia to destinations in Europe and the US.
“So a gym on board, that could be there in the next few years,” he said.
The airline had also recently started reissuing colouring books to its young flyers, he confirmed.
Qantas planes doing the loop-the-loop is also not unheard of.
Winton historian Jeff Close earlier told the board that in the early days of the airline’s operation, joy flights were offered.
An aerial circumnavigation of Winton cost passengers one pound, and a loop-the-loop cost five pounds, he revealed.
Originally published as Young flyers reveal their wishlist for Qantas for the next 100 years
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