Originally born out of a hanger in Queensland (QANTAS = Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services), Qantas offers direct flights from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown to several cities in Australia as well as direct flights from Auckland to Los Angeles.

The new A380 has been progressively introduced on selected flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles, also now Sydney to Singapore and London.

Qantas has announced it would increase A380 services between Australia and both the UK and US from early June 2009.

The increase will follow the delivery of the fourth Qantas A380 in May. Qantas A380 interior (pictured)

* From 7 June, Qantas will operate five A380 services each week from Sydney to London. Increasing from three per week, the new QF31 Sydney-London services will operate on Thursdays and Sundays.
* From 9 June, A380 flights from Australia to Los Angeles will increase from five to six per week, with the addition of a fourth service from Sydney. The new QF11 Sydney-Los Angeles services will operate on Tuesdays.

Executive General Manager Qantas, Mr John Borghetti, said the Qantas A380 continued to receive exceptional feedback from customers. "The response from our customers has reaffirmed what we set out to achieve with the aircraft - to create a designer aircraft which exceeded our customers' expectations when it comes to comfort and functionality," he said.

Since the launch of A380 services October 2008, Qantas has carried around 50,000 passengers on its three-aircraft A380 fleet. Following the arrival of aircraft four in May, Qantas expects to take delivery of a further three A380s in 2009. Qantas currently flies Sydney to London on QF 31 and 32, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

A highly successful airline, Qantas is a great choice to Asia and Europe if you also wish to include a visit to Australia. Destinations you can fly to on Qantas include Asia, South Africa, Los Angeles & New York and of course Europe 

QANTAS SKYBED
Passengers in Business Class experience the Qantas Skybed on all 747-400, aircraft between Brisbane, Auckland and Los Angeles.  Skybed is the ultimate Business Class bed, with added features that will be unique to the Qantas Business Class experience.

Skybed is also available on all scheduled London, Hong Kong and Shanghai flights from Australia.  It is available on all flights to Los Angeles and New York from Sydney and on all 3 class 747-400 flights to Los Angeles from Melbourne.

For further details visit www.qantas.co.nz
 

British Airways, the United Kingdom's flagship carrier serves Europe very well and flies it's own aircraft to Australia as well as sharing flights with Qantas.

British Airways also offer a 'premium' economy class - same service as economy but with larger seats and much more leg-room. Priced in-between economy class and business class this is a great option for those long european flights.

Did you, like me, think that no one ever bought duty free while flying?
Well in the last year Bristish Airways sold over 1.6 Million products from its in-air duty free sales. This included 40 tonnes of chocolate, 8,300 litres of female fragrances, 174 thousand litres of alcohol, 40,000 travel adaptor plugs and over 50,000 watches! The longest running fragrance sold onboard is Chanel Number 5