Australia’s Qantas marks 90 years in S’pore, its first international destination

SINGAPORE – Australian flag carrier Qantas marks its 90th year in Singapore on April 17.

Singapore was Qantas’ first international destination and remains “more important to Qantas than ever”, said Mr Nick McGlynn, the airline’s executive vice-president for Asia.

On April 17, 1935, a four-engine DH86 aircraft carrying two passengers landed at Kallang Airport.

“It is incredible to think that the Flying Kangaroo has been here in Singapore for nine decades, launching operations before the start of World War II,” Mr McGlynn said.

The gruelling first journey from Brisbane took 3½ days, and the flight made 16 stops along the way, including in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Rambang in Indonesia.

The carrier operates 50 flights a week between Singapore and six cities: Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and London. Flights to Darwin, the newest destination, began in March.

The addition of extra flights to Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin has made Singapore the largest Qantas operation – and its busiest international port – outside Australia.

Qantas is expected to start taking delivery of 28 new Airbus A321XLR planes from June. This extra long-range aircraft is able to serve any Australian city from Singapore, and this can unlock new routes for Qantas, such as Adelaide to Singapore or Perth to India, in the coming years, said a spokesperson.

To commemorate 90 years in Singapore, Qantas will be launching a “takeover” at People’s Park Centre in Chinatown, with a 3D video featuring Australian landscapes popping out above one of Singapore’s busiest intersections.

Qantas’ Singapore airport manager Elsie Low has worked for the airline for 35 years, having joined as a customer service officer.

“At 23 years old when I joined Qantas, I wasn’t married, I wasn’t a mother,” said the 58-year-old, whose children are 27 and 25 years old.

“I have grown up with Qantas as well,” she told The Straits Times, adding that she also witnessed the building of Changi Airport over the years. When she joined, there was only one terminal. Today, Terminal 5 is being built.

She now oversees all aspects of Qantas’ operations in Singapore, including passenger services and aircraft turnaround, which includes the cleaning and refuelling of aircraft, as well as the catering and freight.

There have been challenges along the way, of course. The Covid-19 pandemic was “the worst”, Ms Low said.

Passengers were stranded when countries quickly closed their borders, and airport employees were afraid to turn up for work. Airlines, meanwhile, had to deal with taking their planes back to base.

When she returned to work after 18 months, Ms Low was the sole Qantas employee in Singapore.

Tasked to restart operations between Australia and Singapore in three weeks, she did everything from testing the printer to make sure boarding passes could be printed, to working with the airport to secure landing slots, to booking the crew hotel.

An earlier challenge in her career happened in November 2010.

In November 2010, Qantas flight QF32 bound for Sydney was forced to turn back to Singapore after one of the Airbus A380’s four engines exploded shortly after take-off. The superjumbo made an emergency landing at Changi Airport.

Ms Low raced to set up a control centre to coordinate responses with Qantas’ head office in Sydney and airport operator Changi Airport Group.

“Our focus was entirely on supporting our crew, our passengers… to ensure that everything would run safely when the aircraft landed.”

She was also responsible for putting passengers up in hotel rooms, settling them down and arranging for their bags to be collected.

Apart from that, “we still had a business to run”, she said, as she had to also oversee Qantas’ normal operations.

She also recalls how she managed to help a passenger who had lost his passport at the airport, just before an important business trip.

She managed to find it and get him onto his departing flight in the nick of time. The passenger recognised her nine years later and told her: “I will always remember you.”

“When I do my rounds in the Qantas lounges, the passengers will call out to me. I feel so proud when customers remember me and keep travelling with Qantas.”

She adds: “Working for Qantas has been an incredible journey… No two days are ever quite the same.”

• Vanessa Paige Chelvan is a correspondent at The Straits Times. She writes about all things transport and pens the occasional commentary.

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