All in a days work: Qantas zeroes in on emissions, announces new CMO and launches shortest international flight

It’s been a big week for the flying Kangaroo, after releasing its plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, launching Australia’s shortest international flight and appointing a new chief marketing officer all in the space of two days.

This new emissions target is part of Qantas Group’s Climate Action Plan, which aims to make sustainability a key pillar of decision making across all areas of the business.

As part of the plan, Qantas announced targets for fuel efficiency and the uptake of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which will be critical for reaching net-zero emissions, as well as reducing waste and continuing to grow the Group’s carbon offsetting program.

These targets for reducing the carrier’s environmental footprint include 10 per cent use of SAF in the Group’s fuel mix by 2030 and approximately 60 per cent by 2050, zero single-use plastics by 2027 and zero general waste (excluding quarantine waste) to landfill by 2030, an increase in fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5 per cent per year to 2030 by updating its aircraft fleet and using more efficient flight planning and continuing to build its offsetting program, particularly into key Australian projects.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said that having a plan to decarbonise is critical to the airline’s future.

“We’ve had a zero net emissions goal for several years, so today’s interim targets are about accelerating our progress and cutting emissions as quickly as technology allows,” Joyce said.

“Hydrogen or electric-powered aircraft are several decades away, particularly for the length of most flights, so our plan is focused on the technology that is within reach today.”

Qantas also appointed Petra Perry as its new CEO, replacing Jo Boundy, who left the airline to join Commonwealth Bank as its CMO in December.

Perry has worked for the airline for six years, previously as CMO for Qantas loyalty and enterprise manager customer operations and digital.

Despite her Linkedin account stating she has been in the CMO position since February, a Qantas representative Travel Weekly the news had only been confirmed today.

This announcement follows Qantas’ recent launch of its new campaign, a revamp of its iconic Still Call Australia Home ad.

The national carrier also launched its Darwin to Dili flight yesterday, the shortest Australian international flight.

The capital of the Northern Territory now is home to the longest — Darwin-London at over 14,000km — and shortest, — Darwin-Dili at 725km — international flights.

Passengers on the Darwin-Dili flight will have a flight time of one hour and 20 minutes, whereas London goers can expect a 17-hour flight.

The Dili route will operate three times a week and is expected to ramp up to five weekly flights from July.

“We do expect [the Darwin-Dili service] to be a popular route, we expect people that are looking to get off the beaten track will really like going up to Timor Leste,” QantasLink chief executive Petrea Bradford said.

“We’ve only had the route on sale now since February … it’s performing very well.”