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Qantas’s “retro” painted Boeing 737 has operated its first revenue flights, entering service on Saturday morning operating QF611 from Brisbane to Melbourne.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, VH-XZP departed Brisbane at 8:16am local, touching down at Melbourne 2 hours and 9 minutes later at 11:26am local. It then operated a return service to Brisbane (QF616) before being scheduled to operate a second Brisbane-Melbourne-Brisbane round trip later on Saturday.
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VH-XZP is painted in Qantas’s iconic ochre colour scheme of the 1970s and early 1980s and is named after former CEO James Strong. It arrived in Sydney at the end of its delviery flight from Boeing Field, Seattle on Wednesday morning. It was the 75th and last 737-800 Qantas has had on order.
David Carter
says:There are a lot of retro schemes around. Many remind us that once upon a time air travel was a classy way to travel. Google the retro schemes of Air Canada, United, American, SAS and Air France. It is a shame that Qantas did not opt for the V-Jet scheme on the 737, which was its classy early jet age livery. The ochre and red scheme that came with the 747 somehow lost this quality while still not being modern like contemporaries Alitalia and CP Air.