Qantas customers will take to the skies on Waltzing Matilda, Boomerang and Quokka as the airline revealed the names for its fleet of eight Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The public had the opportunity to vote on what they thought the final eight names should be and the votes are in.
More than 60,000 suggestions were put forward and 45,000 votes cast in selecting the names of the aircraft that will fly routes including Perth to London and Melbourne to Los Angeles.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the public response to the challenge of naming the aircraft after things that captured the spirit of Australia was fantastic.
“We had so many worthwhile entries, we could have probably renamed our entire fleet of 208 aircraft,” Mr Joyce said.
“There were some clear favourites and it’s given us a good mix of names for our eight Dreamliners, from landmarks to native animals, literature and Indigenous heritage.
“We know people get a real sense of home when they see the flying kangaroo at airports around the world, and hopefully they’ll enjoy seeing these uniquely Australian names as well,” added Mr Joyce.
The final names (in no particular order):
- Great Barrier Reef
- Boomerang
- Skippy
- Waltzing Matilda
- Uluru
- Great Southern Land
- Quokka
- Dreamtime
The names will be painted beneath the cockpit window on each aircraft. The sequencing of names will be revealed as the aircraft are delivered, with the first to arrive in October this year.
An opera singer, native animals, references to Indigenous culture and some of the country’s best known landmarks were among some of the Australian icons suggested to appear on Qantas’ new fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
