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“As two great airlines come together, we have a perfect opportunity to have an Australian designer create a uniform that will reflect the best aspects of both organisations,” Mr Pemberton said.
“Staff will be involved and consulted in the design and selection process.”
Besides repainting the Australian fleet, the interiors of the planes will be redecorated to look the same as Qantas’s bigger jets.
The moves will save Qantas millions of dollars. Flight attendants wearing identical uniforms will be able to swap between international and domestic flights.
The first crew to wear the new Qantas uniform leave on a flight from Sydney to Adelaide this morning. This will be the first time the outfits have been seen by the flying public. August 17, 1994.Credit: Steve Christo
Marketing and sales can be rationalised, enabling the airline to sell a seamless domestic and international product to business and leisure travellers. Evolution ... from TAA to Australian and now Qantas.
Big savings will also come in aircraft use. The smaller jets of the domestic division can be used for short-haul international flights when there are not enough passengers to fill a bigger Boeing 767 or 747 jumbo jet.
The fully integrated airline will also be more attractive for investors when the remaining 75 per cent of Qantas is sold -later this year.
It will be the third major image change the domestic carrier has undergone in its 48-year history.
The carrier was established in 1945 as Trans-Australia Airlines — more commonly known as TAA — and flew its first scheduled service from Melbourne to Sydney on September 9, 1946.
The corporate name of Australian Airlines was adopted in 1986 and in 1988 it became Australian Airlines Limited, a public company wholly owned by the Australian Government.
The Government sold Australian to Qantas in September last year for $400 million.
Mr Pemberton said he was aware that many Australian Airlines staff might feel a sense of loss with the change of image.
“I would count myself amongst them,” he said.
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“I was at Australian Airlines at a time when they achieved great things in the marketplace.”
But his message to Australian staff was that they were bringing with them into Qantas their own special spirit which would contribute greatly to the total airline.
“I want to make it clear that we greatly value the strengths of Australian [Airlines] and we have no intention of losing the many assets its people bring to the enlarged group,” he said.
But in a broad sense it was clear “the maximum commercial benefit would be extracted by moving to a single brand”.