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Qantas is about to send Australia’s most famous kangaroo into the sky. Skippy has been revealed as one of the eight “Australian icons” to be honoured as the names of the latest Qantas Dreamliner fleet.

Travellers can also look forward to boarding the flying quokka, boomerang and Waltzing Matilda, The Great Barrier Reef and Uluru, along with Dreamtime and Great Southern Land.

More than 60,000 suggestions were put forward and 45,000 votes cast in selecting the names of the aircraft that will fly routes including Perth to London and Melbourne to Los Angeles.
 

Jetstar looks to expand further into China (Operations)

 
Qantas is focused on lifting its share of the lucrative Chinese travel market. Jetstar will be flying non-stop between Australia and China under a new charter arrangement before the end of the year. Qantas’ budget airline already flies out of seven Chinese airports to other destinations in Asia but has no flights to Australia.

China is set to overtake New Zealand as Australia’s largest tourism market within the next three years, and will have the world’s largest aviation market by 2029, according to the International Air Travel Association.
 

Qantas prepares for new Dreamliners (Operations and Human Resources)

 
New technology on the new Dreamliner planes soon to join the Qantas fleet has been shown to detect and counterbalance turbulence far more effectively than anything on previous passenger flights. The airline is due to take delivery of its first 787 in October.

Qantas is also ramping up 787 pilot training at its Melbourne simulator facility ahead of the launch of the LA service.

Source: How Qantas is ironing out the bumps by Jeff Whalley Herald Sun June 6th, Qantas announces winners of its Dreamliner Competition news.com.au June 21st, Jetstar muscles in on flights to China by Patrick Hatch SMH June 23rd.