Qantas

A red tail with a white kangaroo is one of the motifs that spotters in Europe head to the fence for on purpose. Qantas serves only a few airports on this continent, but it does so with big aircraft and on some of the longest routes in scheduled service. This page shows you how to identify Qantas with confidence, which types you can expect and why the A350-1000ULR is the most exciting target of the coming years.

Qantas at a glance

Qantas is Australia’s flag carrier and is headquartered in Mascot, right at Sydney Airport. The airline was founded on November 16, 1920 in the small town of Winton in Queensland and began flight operations two years later. The name is an acronym: Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. That is also where the unusual spelling without a “u” after the “Q” comes from.

The small outback airmail business has grown into a major network airline. Its hubs are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Under the umbrella of the Qantas Group you also find the low-cost subsidiary Jetstar, the regional brand QantasLink and Qantas Freight. Domestically, Virgin Australia is the main competitor.

In 1998 Qantas was a founding member of oneworld, together with British Airways, among others. Since 2013 Qantas has also worked closely with Emirates – a partnership you can also see in shared flight numbers.

Qantas is also known for its safety record: The airline has never lost a jet in a total loss, and its last fatal accident was in 1951. The best-known recent incident is QF32 in November 2010, when an engine on an A380 was severely damaged shortly after takeoff from Singapore. The crew brought the aircraft back safely, and nobody was injured.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code QF: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board, on the ticket and in the airport schedule.
• ICAO code QFA: used by air traffic control, and it appears on flight trackers.
• Callsign QANTAS: This is how the crew identifies itself on the radio, for example “Qantas One” for QF1.

Qantas flight numbers are very short and have a long tradition. QF1 and QF2 stand for the “Kangaroo Route” between Sydney and London, which has had various stopovers over the decades. The nonstop connection between Perth and London runs as QF9 and QF10. When you see a low QF number in the schedule at Heathrow, it is almost always worth a look.

The fleet: A380, 787-9 and the big changeover

Qantas is in the middle of the largest fleet renewal in its history. The following overview shows the Qantas mainline brand as of 2026; the numbers can change quickly through deliveries and retirements.

Type	In service (as of 2026)	Seats	Role	Spotter note
Airbus A380-800	10	485 in four classes	Long-haul, incl. London, Los Angeles, Dallas	Retirement announced from 2028
Boeing 787-9	14, more on order	236 in three classes	Long-haul, incl. Perth–London	Many special liveries
Airbus A330-200	8	251	Domestic and Asia	To be replaced by 787s from 2027
Airbus A330-300	10	297	Domestic and Asia	To be replaced by new widebody jets later
Boeing 737-800	75	168	Domestic network	Retirement starts with the A321XLR
Airbus A321XLR	first aircraft in service	around 200	Domestic, successor to the 737	New in the fleet
Airbus A350-1000ULR	12 on order	238 in four classes	Project Sunrise	Delivery announced from April 2027
Airbus A350-1000 / Boeing 787-10	on order	still open	Successor to the A330-300 and A380	A350-1000 from the end of the 2020s, 787-10 later

The A380 is the flagship and, for many spotters, the reason to head to Heathrow. Qantas parked its double-deckers in 2020 during the pandemic, and ten of them returned by 2024. In August 2026 Qantas announced that retirement will begin as early as 2028 – earlier than previously announced. The years with the kangaroo on the A380 are therefore numbered.

The Boeing 787-9 is the workhorse on the very long but less heavily booked routes. With it, Qantas flew nonstop between Australia and Europe for the first time in March 2018, from Perth to London. The A330-200 and A330-300 fly mainly domestically and to Asia; in Europe you practically never see them.

On short-haul, the Airbus A321XLR is replacing the Boeing 737-800. Also on order are further 787-9s, the Boeing 787-10 and the standard A350-1000. The manufacturers are Airbus and Boeing – Qantas deliberately relies on both.

Project Sunrise: nonstop to the other side of the world

Project Sunrise is the plan to connect Sydney and other cities on Australia’s east coast with London and New York without a stop. The impetus came from the then Qantas CEO Alan Joyce in August 2017, when he challenged Airbus and Boeing to offer a suitable aircraft. In 2019 Qantas used Boeing 787-9s for three research flights to test how crews and passengers cope with the extreme flight duration. In December 2019 the choice fell on Airbus, and in May 2022 the order for twelve A350-1000ULRs followed.

What makes the aircraft special?

• Additional tank: The ULR version has another fuel tank in the rear fuselage and can therefore manage flights of around 22 hours.
• Few seats: Only 238 seats in four classes – First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy. That is significantly fewer than in a standard A350-1000.
• Wellbeing Zone: Between Premium Economy and Economy there is an area where passengers can move around and stretch.

The schedule has slipped several times. The original target was the end of 2025; because of delivery problems at Airbus, the first delivery is now announced for April 2027. The first aircraft made its first flight in Toulouse on June 2, 2026, and on July 24, 2026 it landed in Melbourne after a nonstop flight of more than 19 hours from Toulouse. Qantas has announced scheduled service Sydney–London for October 2027, with New York to follow as the second destination; no firm date for it had been published at press time. You can find more on the topic of extreme distances in the article on ultra-long-haul flights.

How to recognize Qantas

The trademark is the white kangaroo on the red tail. Qantas has used the kangaroo since 1944, hence the nickname “Flying Kangaroo”. The logo has been modernized several times, including in 2007; today the animal looks slimmer and more dynamic than in the early decades. The fuselage is white, and the titles “QANTAS” are in red capital letters at the front of the fuselage.

Special liveries

Qantas is among the airlines with the most striking special liveries. Since the 1990s, individual aircraft have carried works by Indigenous artists, designed with the design studio Balarinji. These include “Mendoowoorrji” on a 737-800, “Yam Dreaming” after a work by Emily Kame Kngwarreye on a 787-9 and “Minyma Kutjara Tjukurpa” on a QantasLink A220-300. There are also retro liveries with older kangaroos, a centenary livery for the 100th birthday on the 787-9 VH-ZNJ and sports motifs for national teams.

For you, that means: Look closely at every Qantas sighting. How to find special liveries on purpose is explained in the guide to special liveries, and the article on alliance liveries gives an overview of alliance paint schemes.

Spotting Qantas in Europe

Qantas no longer lands in German-speaking countries – Frankfurt and other former destinations have disappeared from the network. The most important place for you is therefore London Heathrow Airport. Flights via Singapore and the nonstop flight from Perth arrive there. Qantas also serves Paris, and in the summer months there are seasonal flights to Rome.

Many long-haul flights from Asia and Australia land in Europe early in the morning. That is exactly when you need to be at the spot, often in still-low light. Which time windows are typical is explained in the guide to long-haul arrival times in Europe. At Heathrow, Myrtle Avenue and Hatton Cross are the well-known spots for landings; plane spotting at Heathrow offers a complete overview.

Qantas in Australia and worldwide

If you travel to Australia, you will of course see Qantas in all its variants: 737-800s, A321XLRs, A330s and QantasLink aircraft are everyday sights there. At Sydney Airport, Shep’s Mound is one of the best-known spots, and the guide plane spotting in Sydney helps you plan.

Outside Australia, Qantas flies to Singapore Changi, Los Angeles, Dallas/Fort Worth and Johannesburg, among others. In Los Angeles you have good chances of the A380, for example from Imperial Hill.

A look back: Qantas and the jumbo

For many spotters, Qantas is closely tied to the Boeing 747. The airline flew the jumbo from 1971, and after the Boeing 707 was retired in 1979, the international fleet consisted of only 747s for a time. The Boeing 747-400 shaped the scene at Heathrow and Frankfurt for decades. In July 2020 Qantas said goodbye to the last 747 with a farewell flight that drew a kangaroo in the sky over Sydney. The Boeing 767-300ER had already left the fleet at the end of 2014. If you want to tell the two widebody jets apart, the guide A380 and Boeing 747 can help.

Common mix-ups

• Equating Qantas and Jetstar – Jetstar belongs to the Qantas Group but flies under its own code and in orange and silver.
• Taking QantasLink for the mainline brand – QantasLink carries the kangaroo but is the regional brand with its own aircraft such as the A220.
• Equating a QF flight number with a Qantas aircraft – many QF flights are operated by partners such as British Airways or Emirates.
• Confusing the A350-1000ULR with a standard A350-1000 – from the outside they are hard to tell apart; the registration and the route help.
• Spelling Qantas “Quantas” – the name is an acronym and gets by without a “u”.
• Expecting Qantas in Frankfurt – the connection to Germany no longer exists.

Conclusion

Qantas is one of the oldest airlines in the world and, in Europe, a rare and therefore all the more coveted visitor. If you want to photograph the kangaroo, your best bet is to go to Heathrow, plan for early morning and watch for special liveries. The A380 has only a few years left, and the A350-1000ULR from Project Sunrise is close to entering service – two good reasons for spotters to keep an eye on Qantas right now.