Australian Airlines
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| Founded | 2001 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 30 June 2006 | ||||||
| Hubs | Cairns International Airport | ||||||
| Secondary hubs | Sydney Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Qantas Frequent Flyer | ||||||
| Fleet size | 5 | ||||||
| Destinations | 13 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Sydney, Australia (Qantas Group headquarters) | ||||||
Australian Airlines was a full-service airline based in Australia, servicing Australian and Asian destinations between 2002 and 2006. It was an all-economy, full-service international leisure carrier, and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas, (although run independently of the mainline carrier). Its main base was at Cairns International Airport, with a secondary hub at Sydney Airport.
The airline ceased operations under its own livery on 30 June 2006, but continued to operate flights for Qantas under a wet lease agreement. This means Australian Airlines operated flights for Qantas using its own crew/cost base, but under the Qantas brand. Qantas decided to discontinue the public use of the Australian Airlines brand in favour of having Jetstar Airways as its leisure, now low-cost, carrier. Qantas and Jetstar are operating services to replace Australian Airlines' routes, with Jetstar International introduced in late 2006 to help expand the Qantas Group's international presence.
The airline was established in 2001 and started operations on 27 October 2002, reusing the name Qantas gained when it acquired former Australian domestic carrier Australian Airlines in September 1992. Its initial network of flights concentrated on leisure tourism between Queensland and Japan. Subsequent expansion brought on other leisure destinations throughout Southeast Asia. On 12 April 2006 Geoff Dixon, CEO of the Qantas Group, announced that the group would be focusing on a two-brand strategy, the Qantas and Jetstar brands, and as such the Australian Airlines brand would cease to exist from July 2006.
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