iscover
An Ontario World Boeing 707 departs Kingsford Smith Airport. This particular aircraft was formerly operated by Qantas. (Bottom) Flying Tigers have reduced their Australia-bound specialist freight operations, in this case a 747. dramatically since losing the IBM contract to PanAm. (Top) A Flying Tigers DC-8-63 rotates on leg one of the homeward-bound journey. (Bottom) Transamerica is a big operator of the stretched DC-8 family and regularly visits Australia with both freight and passenger charters. Both these operators derive satisfaction and peace of mind through the use of Qantas· Group Aircraft Services. (John Vogel)
Qantas’ Smallest Operation Big On Service
0 comment
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.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.
