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Qantas is an acronym for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services." It is Australia’s largest and the world’s second oldest continuously running independent airline behind Avianca. Qantas Airways is headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales.
Qantas was founded in the Queensland outback in 1920 by former Australian Flying Corps officers W Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness. It operated airmail services subsidised by the Australian government, linking railheads in western Queensland. In 1934, Qantas in partnership with Britain's Imperial Airways (the predecessor of British Airways) formed a new company, Qantas Empire Airways Limited. Qantas Empire Airways commenced services between Brisbane and Singapore.
After World War II, Qantas Empire Airways was in financial doldrums and was taken over by the Australian government. In 1967, the name of the airlines was changed to Qantas Airways Limited. In 1992, Qantas bought Australian Airlines. In 1993, Australian Government sold 25 per cent share of the airline to British Airways as the first step towards privatization and Qantas and Australian Airlines were merged under the banner Qantas - 'The Australian Airline'. Today, Qantas is widely regarded as the world's leading long distance airline and one of the strongest brands in Australia.
Qantas fleet consists of modern aircrafts such as Airbus 380, Boeing 787, Boeing 737 - 800, and Bombardier Q400. Qantas covers all the major destinations around the world. In India, Qantas flies to Mumbai.