Traffic #396 | Qantas, NASA and Skytrans

Qantas supports St Nick with Santa’s Freight

Though Christmas may feel like a lifetime ago for some, as this is the first Australian Aviation issue back for 2025, it would be undoubtedly rude for me not to address the excitement of the holiday season. As the flag carrier of Australia, Qantas was more than happy to help ol’ Saint Nick when he asked for assistance with his deliveries. In early December, the airline rolled out its temporary “Santa’s Freight” livery, using several cleverly placed sticker decals over its usual Qantas Freight paintwork. The skilful rebrand also included an array of merry, red presents by the undercarriage, and Santa himself placed near the tail, carrying his iconic sack. Much like Rudolph – the only reindeer to don a red nose – only one Airbus A321 P2F was selected to be Santa’s special helper for the season, VH-XF4. Having completed its duty, -XF4 was quickly restored to its former glory after the holiday season.

VH-XF4 is one of the airline’s newest A321 freighter jets, with the fleet now standing at six. It came as Qantas geared up to shift over 50,000 tonnes of cargo, both here and abroad, up 5 per cent on the previous year. The carrier promised to add over 550 additional flight hours to ensure that all Christmas presents were delivered on time.

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