Qantas celebrates 50 years of flying to Bangkok

Qantas today celebrates 50 years of flying to Bangkok on the Kangaroo Route.

When the first Qantas flight bound for Bangkok departed Sydney in November 1953, it was not a non-stop flight as it is these days. The flight, which was operated by a Constellation L749, took two days. It flew Sydney-Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore-Bangkok before continuing on to London, stopping at ports such as Calcutta, Colombo, Bombay, Karachi, Cairo, Beirut, Rome, Zurich and Frankfurt, which took another two days.

Group General Manager Sales Rob Gurney said the introduction of the dolphin-shaped Constellation was an important milestone for Qantas as it was the first aircraft to operate through to London with Qantas crew and to carry the Flying Kangaroo logo.

"The trip to London took just over 55 hours in the air and around 94 hours in total - four days," Mr Gurney said. "Passengers spent two nights in the air and two on the ground.

"Today, Qantas operates seven services a week to the UK via Bangkok on a Boeing 747-400 and also codeshares on seven British Airways flights a week between Australia and Thailand and Thailand and the UK."

Flying has come a long way since 6 November 1953, with flights from Sydney to Bangkok now taking just over eight hours.

Mr Gurney said Thailand continued to be a popular destination in its own right as well as a stopover port en route to Europe. "Bangkok is one of the world's most vibrant cities, offering a blend of history, food shopping and nightlife - something for everyone.

"Qantas services to Bangkok are progressively being fitted with the state-of-the-art sleeper seat Skybed and offer a range of other product and service enhancements that have set a new standard for business travel."