One of the world’s oldest airlines still in operation, Qantas was founded in Winton, Queensland, Australia in November of 1920 by World War I veterans Paul McGinness and Hudson Fysh. The men wanted to create an air service which would connect Australia to the wider world.

They chose an acronym for the airline’s name; QANTAS stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. Queensland is an Australian state in the continent’s northeast, while the Northern Territory (NT) is a large region in the center and north-center of the country.

Initially the airline operated taxi & joy flights, as well as airmail service for the Australian government. Between 1926 and 1928 Qantas also built aircraft; the company provided the first aircraft for the fledgling “Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia“. Within the first year of operations, the doctors flew approximately 20,000 miles in 50 flights, becoming the first comprehensive air ambulance service in the world.

Qantas finally began flying internationally in May of 1935, when service from Darwin was extended to Singapore. In 1958, Qantas began flying westward from Australia to London, through Asia. Jet service using the Boeing 707 began in 1969; from Sydney to San Francisco via Nadi and Honolulu.

When Cyclone Tracy devastated the town of Darwin at Christmas 1974, Qantas established a world record for the most people ever embarked on a single aircraft when it evacuated 673 people on a single Boeing 747 flight.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org