Qantas poster boy John Travolta has launched the airline’s latest purchase – a Boeing 737 complete with a retro roo.
What’s a retro roo? It’s the airline’s iconic kangaroo logo, as it first appeared 70 years ago, designed by Gert Sellheim.
The 737-800 has been kitted out with original Qantas livery used from 1971-1984 with an ochre band around the window line.
Travolta, resplendent in his pilot’s uniform, emerged from the plane to the tune of “Fly Like An Eagle by Seal”, at the unveiling at the Boeing hangar in Seattle.
Walking down the stairs and onto a red carpet with a Qantas stewardess on either arm, the actor talked about his affinity with the airline.
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He said his long love affair with Australia was linked to his love of planes and further enhanced by his role as a Qantas ambassador.
“My connection to Australia was my collection of airline schedules … it was filled with Qantas because they had the longest over-water flights, they had the best reputation, they had perfect safety record.
“It was iconic to me as a little boy and I thought I’d never get to be on a plane like that,” Travolta said.
The actor said his first trip to Australia was in 1980 to promote his film Urban Cowboy, and he’s loved the country and its people ever since.
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“I find the people there are a little more on it than the rest of the world, a little more go-getter in a great way … a natural way.
“They find solutions to things, no matter what business it is,” he said.
“You don’t put stops on an Australian.”
He said when Qantas trained him to be a 747 pilot he learned techniques about cross-wind landings that nobody in the US knew how to do.
“I found myself teaching it to pilots and them falling in love with it because it worked.”
The airline organised the event in Seattle to unveil the retro-design to Australian media who flew in to see the old/new design.
Qantas’s group executive for brand, marketing and corporate affairs, Olivia Wirth, said the retro livery was intended as a reminder of the pioneering role that Qantas had held in the global aviation market.
“For 70 years our logo has been a symbol of aviation innovation, but also a reminder that home is never far away,” she said.
The plane will be used on domestic flights in Australia.
