Qantas safety video a salute to the past

Qantas takes passengers on a trip down memory lane in a new safety video featuring old planes and uniforms WATCH.

Qantas’s new safety video, celebrating 100 years of flying. Picture: Supplied

Qantas will take passengers on an eight-and-a-half minute trip down memory lane in its new safety video, made to celebrate the airline’s centenary.

Each decade of flying since the 1920s gets a nod in the video, featuring the aircraft of the day including carefully reconstructed cabins, and the uniforms worn by Qantas crew.

Set to a soundtrack of I Still Call Australia Home played by jazz legend James Morrison using a variety of brass instruments, the video was 12 months in development, followed by three weeks of production.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the video was “a tribute to a century of our people, the changing styles and our innovation”.

“It calls out the contribution Qantas and its people have made to aviation, like the invention of the slide raft as well as the national carrier’s role in connecting Australia to the world,” Mr Joyce said.

“The one thing that has never changed is our commitment to safety.”

Qantas in the 1980s. Picture: Supplied

While some of the scenes were recreated in real life, others featuring the original Avro 504 and the 1930s de Havilland 36 were brought back to life using computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Using extraordinary attention to detail, producers took wall panels from a retired 747-200 in the Mojave Desert to recreate the 1970s Captain Cook lounge, and used the original Australian Wildflower pattern on the wall of the Boeing 707.

An original tea set from the 1940s makes an appearance, as does an original life jacket in the Rose Bay 1930s scene, one of only two in existence from that era.

CGI was also used to recreate the Wunala Dreaming livery on a 747, based on the original artwork and drawings from indigenous design studio Balarinji.

Uniforms from the various decades were sourced from Qantas’s own collection and retire Qantas crew, while the clothing for extras came from op shops in regional communities, and personal wardrobes.

Current staff were used in historical versions of their present day roles with Alastair Fysh, the grandson of Qantas co-founder Sir Hudson Fysh, making a cameo appearance.

The new safety video will make its first appearance in-flight from March 1, replacing the current video which has been used since 2017.

Flying with Qantas in the 1960s. Picture: Supplied.