Australian travellers joined the jet-set era 50 years ago when Qantas flight EM774 departed Sydney Airport at 3.35pm on 29 July 1959, bound for Nadi, Honolulu and San Francisco. The sleek, silver and white fuselage of the Boeing 707 jet created history as Qantas became the first airline in the world to operate commercial passenger jet services across the Pacific. Qantas also was the first airline based outside the USA to operate the new passenger jet.

Address by Alan Joyce, Qantas Chief Executive Officer
The Committee for Economic Development of Australia
Langham Hotel, Southbank, Melbourne
27 May 2009