Issue 17: Qantas’ Smallest Operation Is Big on Service

What precisely is the function of this, the smallest operating unit of IATA’s seventh-largest international carrier?

General Aircraft Services’ role is to smooth the path of passenger and freight traffic – not only in Australia but throughout the world. One example is the emergence of corporate jet usage in recent years. A company operating a corporate jet, whether it be a Lear or a Boeing 727 with long-range tanks, must be able to operate to a flexible timetable and fly into ports at will, with a minimum of downtime due to the requirements of local authorities or lack of technical support in the event of equipment failure. By using Qantas’ General Aircraft Services, an operator can deal directly with the one agency worldwide, knowing exactly what his schedule will be and that help is at hand should a problem occur. It is amazing how inhospitable foreign airports can seem when your Boeing 707 has a fault in number three and nobody trusts your credit ten thousand kilometres from home base! With General Aircraft Services the operator simply dials his appointed Qantas agent. In today’s over-bureaucratic world, isn’t it nice to know that there is a backup service on the ground that knows what it’s doing?

In providing the total handling of aircraft, passengers and load Qantas uses its own facilities at Australian ports. Overseas it uses mainly contracting companies with which it has established sound working relationships over the years.

Corporate jets aren’t the entire domain of this facility though, for the RAAF and USAF figure prominently on the list of clients. The RAAF uses General Aircraft Services for the international handling of all its overseas destined traffic from Boeing 707s to Chinooks operating into New Guinea and the Pacific. When operating within Australian airspace, the USAF relies on Qantas’ services, particularly with special mission flights like the 1982 visit to Australia by Vice President George Bush, when fastidious arrangements and security were essential. In fact, it was the USAF that presented General Aircraft Services with its biggest parking problem when five KC-135s visited Sydney simultaneously in 1979 in support of air sampling missions over the southern ocean. This visit highlighted a problem the unit has always had – a lack of hardstand parking space.

Today there is space for three Gulfstream-sized aircraft in the immediate corporate terminal area though Howard Sappey hopes this will soon be increased significantly with the relocation of much of Qantas’ in-house maintenance equipment from the southern edge of the Jet Base to the site of the old cargo terminal.

Passenger charters and freighter operations are also supported by General Aircraft Services. Bringing 180 charter passengers into Australia on a whistle stop tour is no fun if you begin to have maintenance problems without guaranteed and extensive back-up facilities. In addition to servicing the aircraft, the special unit ensures the passenger side of the operation proceeds smoothly. With many charters, the requirement for relatively unique support services becomes a necessity.

One such recent example would be what is broadly referred to as the ‘zoo charter’ which as the title implies consists of a wide variety of valuable animals from special breeding pigs to ferrets, from tigers to cattle and thoroughbred horses. When such a charter reaches Sydney or any Australian port, it certainly will need the services of an experienced and professional support team to ensure that the ground services proceed smoothly. Perhaps Noah didn’t have the services of Qantas’ dedicated unit but Flying Tigers certainly does!

The unit can do almost anything to cater for the requirements of a client. Recently a corporate 707 arrived with a VIP party of fifty people aboard. As it happened it was the company chairman’s birthday and the group wanted to celebrate his birthday with a cake big enough for fifty people, not an easy task if you don’t have the right contacts on the ground. The Qantas team were able to supply the cake at a few hours’ notice and another influential chairman was sold on the efficiency of our national carrier.

Providing unusual birthday requests may sound trivial but this is the quickest way to provide good, long-lasting memories of the airline responsible and Australia in general – and that is very important for all of us.

The growth area is now in locally and internationally registered corporate jets, for which the efficient ‘smooth sailing’ flight management provided by Qantas’ smallest operating unit is now world-renowned.