The Flying Kangaroo

Among the world's major airlines, one of the fastest growing is a line whose apt symbol is a flying kangaroo and whose long hops take it from Australia clear round the world. In barely ten years, Australia's Qantas* has grown from a pouch baby into the world's ninth biggest international carrier, traveling some 15 million miles annually with 167,350 passengers. Last week Qantas was poised for still another leap. To Lockheed Aircraft went orders and options for six big Electra turboprop transports costing $15 million, 75% of which will be financed by U.S. banks. Also on order: seven Boeing 707 jets worth $50 million. Slated for service in the fall of 1959, the new planes will make Qantas the first foreign line to go all jet on major routes, give it a long head start on most of the industry.

The new jets are only part of Qantas' plans. It also wants to break into the lucrative transcontinental U.S. market heretofore restricted to domestic carriers. With one foot in the door through its right to fly its own international passengers across the U.S., it has also asked the Civil Aeronautics Board for the right to carry other international passengers from coast to coast. The right to make such flights, known as cabotage, has been a major argument for years among air carriers, and Qantas' request is bitterly opposed by every U.S. line. If granted, it would open domestic markets to 16 foreign lines, flying between 16 major U.S. cities, including Chicago, Miami, Seattle, Washington, Boston. For this reason, Qantas' chances are slim.

Aerial Taxis. Flying a fleet of 36 planes, mostly new Super Constellations, to 80 cities in 27 lands, Qantas is one of the few government-owned lines that is run like a private business, has never failed to turn a tidy profit. Qantas could hardly fail, since Australia is isolated from the rest of the world and planes are the only means of swift travel. This year it expects to gross at least $70 million, with a net profit of $2,000,000, both up close to 40% since 1956.

Starting in 1920 as an aerial taxi service for ranchers deep in Australia's barren, blazing outback, Qantas built up a flying-doctor service, hauled emergency well parts, food and anything else settlers wanted. By the 1930s, Qantas had expanded, flying 14-passenger flying boats on a thrice-weekly service to London. But it was only after World War II, in which Qantas' Catalinas did everything from evacuating 24,000 wounded to dropping supplies to besieged Aussie troops, that the line joined the international big league.

Waffles & Costs. The man largely responsible is Qantas' general manager and chief executive, Cedric O. Turner, 51 (see cut), a onetime accountant who likes to "get to the facts and cut out the waffle." Taking over in 1951. he set out to model his line after U.S. carriers, expanded Qantas service west to London, north to Hong Kong and Japan, laid new routes east to Hawaii and the U.S.

He bought the newest U.S. equipment and made it pay off with efficient, low-cost operation. To win passengers, Qantas specialized in light, bright ads, once kicked off a plane-naming contest with "Be the first one in your block to win a kangaroo." To keep its customers, it laid on goodies (including exotic fruits, Sydney rock oysters, giant Australian prawns). And to make them pay off, it kept costs firmly tied to the runway. One big advantage is relatively low pay scales ($7,000 for a Connie captain v. $21,000 in the U.S.). Another is crack maintenance that cuts costly engine failures to about half the world airline average. Net result: a 52% jump since 1953 in what Qantas Boss Turner likes to call "bottoms uplifted."

In the next five years, Turner expects another 100% increase in his high-flying bottoms, with a 125% boost on the Pacific route to the U.S. and Canada. Says he: "Australia is virtually isolated. Trade is vital; development is vital. Qantas has a major role to play in both."

* For its original full name: Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.

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