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Issue 17: Qantas’ Smallest Operation Is Big on Service
A little-known area of Qantas operations is the General Aircraft Services unit. This specialist unit is relatively low on manpower but big on expertise in the critical role of supporting visiting corporate, passenger charter, military and freight aircraft.
Officially designated General Aircraft Services in 1982, the unit has been in operation since the early sixties when Qantas realised the need for a specialist support facility to cater for the increasing number of overseas military and civil charters. In those days the service was known loosely as Engineering Customer Services and was largely an operation of the mammoth Qantas Jet Base engineering organisation. As this line of business grew it became obvious that a dedicated support team should be established to provide the special services in demand.
Today the team, led by Howard Sappey, is still small by any standard – it numbers three. But in providing support for unscheduled flights, its members draw on Qantas’ impressive resources and expertise, whether it be from the airline’s 20,000 meals-a-day flight kitchen, its cargo terminal, its engineering and maintenance area or its flight planning department.
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