Two days after Christmas Qantas will operate its
final passenger flight on its Boeing 767 fleet, marking twenty six years of operation for the airline.
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| A Qantas 767-300ER glistens at sunrise at Sydney Airport |
It is with some degree of sadness that I will say farewell to the Qantas 767. Like its also recently retired smaller cousin, the
Boeing 737-400, the widebody 767-300ER is solid, plain, a workhorse more than a sleek beauty of the skies. But that is sometimes what you need.
No sexy winglets on the Qantas 767s (though you can still spot the odd Air New Zealand 767 with winglets in Australian skies).
As a passenger the 767 always felt like a confident aircraft, powering into the sky and offering a stable flight. The classic interior with angular lines and yellowing plastic harked back to an earlier age. Many of the aircraft flew until recently still with projection screens in the centre to compliment overhead monitors, bringing back memories of my early days on international flights out of Australia on the larger 747s.
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| The old projection screen |
As their erstwhile replacements, the Boeing 787, became steadily more delayed, Qantas undertook a small refurbishment of the interiors, replacing the shared cabin entertainment with individual iPads with a clever little fitting to allow them to be hung from the seat in front.
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| iPad mounted behind the seat |
It was in the name of entertainment that I had my most memorable experience on a Qantas 767. My son Alex and I were very fortunate to be invited to the
Australian premiere of the Disney Planes movie, held on board a specially decorated 767. After some fun in the hanger, our aircraft taxied out under a water salute for a flight up to Queensland and back while we watched Planes on the iPads.
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| Disney Planes 767 in the hanger |
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| On board the Disney Planes 767 |
It wasn't our first adventure together on a Qantas 767. The aircraft above was named the City of Rockhampton, or just Rockhampton towards the end of its service with Qantas, which was
documented by 60 Minutes. The 767 featured in a couple of flights back from that city to Sydney.
One time Alex was so frightened of the sound of the aircraft toilets flushing that he refused to use them and ended up doing a wee in his pants on the seat (sorry Qantas). But it could have been worse.
A little before he turned two years old we were
returning from Singapore to Sydney. Alex was suffering a bad bout of gastro, but after arriving in Melbourne on a Qantas A380 we transferred to a 767 for the flight up to Sydney, a lovely little domestic flight where he slept on my lap without any further ablutions from either end while I gazed out. A reminder that the 767 could be a wonderful experience even when compared with Qantas' latest flagship.
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| Flying by the Royal National Park into Sydney |
A few days later he had recovered and we were
flying back from a visit to relatives in Rockhampton (coincidentally the name of the Qantas Disney Planes 767, though the aircraft did not fly to that city) and we caught another 767 back to Sydney from Brisbane. As we sailed into a gorgeous evening sky I could easily imagine us on an intercontinental flight to some distant land, reinforcing that feeling that the 767 was a
real aircraft that had capabilities beyond shuttling between the capital cities of Eastern seaboard.
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| Into the sunset |
Indeed we flew the Qantas 767 back in 2006 to Osaka, Japan via Cairns. Waiting for us at Cairns was quite possibly the finest regular livery seen on a that aircraft, that of Australian Airlines. Qantas had resurrected the name for 767 only leisure services to Asia prior to Jetstar. The orange, white and black exterior seemed to fit the tropical theme of Cairns' International Terminal, but after imagining tropical decorations inside I was a little disappointed that the interior was standard Qantas apart from orange pillows and disposable headrests. Still, the young and enthusiastic cabin crew more than made up for any disappointment and I was sorry to hear that the decision was made to shut down the brand a few days later.
We returned home from Tokyo on another Qantas 767. As we transited through Cairns Airport in the early hours of the morning they really seemed like the perfect aircraft for the airport. It's not about luxurious glamour but real adventure. Today these services are operated by Jetstar, either on the Airbus A330 or the Boeing replacement for the 767: their 787 Dreamliner.
The transfer of the A330 on to the Sydney to Honolulu route marked the end of international passenger flying of the 767 for Qantas. Domestically, most services will be replaced by smaller Boeing 737-800 flights plus the odd Airbus A330. Another classic aircraft gone, but not forgotten.
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