Qantas is calling on Australians to suggest names for the airline’s fleet of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the airline had a long standing tradition of naming aircraft for symbolic and sentimental reasons.
“Reflecting the importance of the Dreamliner to the national carrier, we’re naming these eight aircraft after Australian icons,” Mr Joyce said.
“And we want Australians to help us choose the names. They can be people, places or things, so long as they reflect the true Spirit of Australia.
“Whether it’s a notable person, a ground breaking invention, a saying, or a landmark – we want eight icons that, together, reflect the depth and breadth of this place we all call home.”
Suggestions could include Bondi Beach, lamington, Don Bradman or badagarang a word for kangaroo in the Dharug language of the Eora nation.
From today, Australians will be able to enter up to eight different names, one for each of the 787s, via a dedicated page on qantas.com with entries to close on Friday 26 May. A shortlist of 24 will then be released with the public asked to vote for their favourites before the final eight are revealed.
To suggest names for our new fleet visit www.qantas.com/nameourdreamliners
Qantas’ aircraft types and historic naming conventions:
Boeing 707 and 747 – Australian capital cities and major centres
Boeing 737-400 – Australian birds
Boeing 737-800 – Australian towns
Airbus A380 – Australian aviation pioneers.
Qantas 787 facts:
The Qantas 787 will seat 236 passengers in a three cabin configuration with 42 Business Suites, 28 Premium Economy seat and 166 seats in Economy.
Qantas will operate the longest Dreamliner flight flying nonstop from Perth to London, a distance of more than 14,000 kilometres and a flying time of around 17 hour.The first 787 is due to arrive in October with four of the aircraft to be in service by March next year to operate flights from Melbourne to London via Perth and Melbourne to Los Angeles.
For more information on Qantas’ history of naming aircraft visit the Qantas blog Roo Tales here.