Australian Airlines

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For Australian Airlines (1986-1993), see Trans Australia Airlines.

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Australian Airlines
IATA AO	ICAO AUZ	Callsign AUSTRALIAN
Founded		2001
Fleet size		5 Ceased Operations
Destinations		13 Ceased Operations
Headquarters		{{{headquarters}}}
Key people		{{{key_people}}}
Website: {{{website}}}

Australian Airlines was a low-cost airline based in Australia, servicing Australian and Asian destinations between 2001 and 2006. It was an all economy, full service international leisure carrier and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Qantas Airways, although run independently of the mainline carrier. Its main base was at Cairns International Airport (CNS), with a secondary hub at Sydney airport (SYD).

The airline ceased operations under its own livery on 30 June 2006 but has continued to operate flights for Qantas under a 'wet leasing' agreement. This means Australian Airlines operates flights for Qantas using its own crew / cost base but under the Qantas brand. Qantas decided to discontinue the public use of the Australian Airlines brand in favour of having Jetstar as its leisure carrier. Qantas is operating services to replace Australian Airlines' routes, with Jetstar International launching in late 2006 to help expand the Qantas Group's international presence.

1 History
2 Services
3 Fleet
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

The airline was established in 2001 and started operations on 27 October 2002, reusing the name Qantas gained when it merged with former Australian domestic carrier Australian Airlines in 1993. Its initial network of flights concentrated on leisure tourism between Queensland and Japan. Subsequent expansion brought on other leisure destinations throughout Southeast Asia. In 2005 Australian Airlines managed to earn a SKYTRAX "4 Star Airline" rating, despite its "low cost airline tag". However, by 2006, rising fuel costs and dropping passenger numbers caught up with the airline. On 11 April 2006 Geoff Dixon, CEO of the Qantas group, announced that the group would be focusing on the Qantas and Jetstar brands, and as such Australian Airlines would cease operating under its own brand by July 2006. The airline's aircraft will be painted back into the Qantas livery, but will continue to be operated by Australian Airlines under a wet lease agreement.