Qantas’s evergreen Boeing 747-400s will host passengers on a private around-the-world charter being organised by newly established travel company Constellation Journeys.
The announcement of the charter was made at Qantas’s Mascot jetbase, with Constellation Journeys founder and managing director Dan Kotzmann alongside Qantas charter manager Domenic Lafaro and Qantas Boeing 747 Fleet Senior Training Captain David Oliver with one of the Flying Kangaroo’s 747s, VH-OJS, in the background.
The inaugural tour, which takes off from Sydney on April 22 2018 and returns on May 12 2018, will be operated by Qantas pilots (two captains and a first officer) alongside 18 cabin crew and seven support staff.
Captain Oliver, who will be in command of the flights, said he was looking forward to the experience.
“I am extremely privileged to be a part of Constellation Journeys’ inaugural trip and am honoured to command your privately chartered Qantas 747 across seven staggering global destinations,” Captain Oliver said in the trip brochure.
“My years of experience as a line pilot and more recently as a training captain on the 747 mean I am commanding my favourite aircraft for this flight.”
Constellation Journeys plans to offer economy, premium economy, business and first class for the charter, suggesting the aircraft to be used will be either VH-OEB or VH-OJM, given these are the airframes that still have Qantas’s old first class product in the nose, while the remaining three 747-400s and six 747-400ERs in the fleet have been reconfigured to a three-class layout comprising business, premium economy and economy.
Currently, Qantas’s 11 747-400/400ERs serve Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Tokyo (Haneda), Johannesburg, San Francisco, New York City and Santiago.
