The Services

There were many difficulties in the early days, but the service was extended to Normanton and in 1928 Cloncurry became the base for the world's first flying doctor service, which was to be operated by QANTAS for the next 21 years.

In 1931 QANTAS Limited began its collaboration with Imperial Airways on the Australia-London run and carried mail between Brisbane and Darwin. In January 1934, the two airlines formed Qantas Empire Airways. QEA flew the Brisbane-Darwin sector, but in 1935 it took over the Darwin-Singapore sector from its partner. At the time, the 4,360 miles Brisbane-Singapore route, covered in 31/2 days, was the world's fastest commercial service.

In 1938, the Short 'Empire' Flying Boats were introduced on this route and QANTAS flew as far as Karachi until, in 1942, this route was cut off by the Japanese advance. QANTAS then began to operate the Catalina Flying boats between Perth and Ceylon. With the purchase of Constellations in 1947, the 'Kangaroo' Route to London via Singapore was inaugurated. A major world first was scored in 1958 when QANTAS became the first airline to offer a Round-World Service. In 1959, QANTAS became the first airline outside the United States to use Boeing 707 aircraft on its routes.[42]

Technically, QANTAS pioneered the use of Doppler navigators and the development of the 'Slide Raft' which is now standard equipment on all major world airlines.

Another pioneer in the transport field, cast in the mould of Hudson Fysh, was Reginald M. Ansett of Victoria. He obtained his flying licence (No. 419) in 1928, but his first transport enterprise, in 1931, consisted of a passenger service between Ballarat, Victoria and Maryborough, Victoria in a second-hand Studebaker car. To overcome the limitations imposed on the road transport by the State which favoured railways, Reginald Ansett moved into aviation and, using a second-hand Fokker Universal, began an air service between Melbourne and Hamilton on 17 February 1936. Ansett went public in April 1937.[43]

The fledgling company, in competition with the (second) Australian National Airlines (ANA) company, an offshoot of the Holyman shipping empire, was saved by the war and a government subsidy. Its main routes were, however, given to ANA for the duration of the war and were not returned at the expiration of hostilities. Ansett Airways had to survive on routes which had to include intermediate stops between capital cities, and the only way to compete was to offer cut fares. In the meantime, ANA felt the competition from the goverment-owned airline, Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) which was created in September 1946, after Chifley's unsuccessful attempt to nationalise ANA. TAA has shown significant enterprise and, for over a decade, pioneered the introduction of modern transport aircraft to Australia. In September 1948, TAA introduced the first pressurised aircraft, the Convair 240, and in 1953, the first domestic Prop Jets, Vickers Viscount 700s.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering