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Qantas to fly Oprah Winfrey audience to Australia

19th October 2010 Print

Qantas announced that it will fly the entire audience of The Oprah Winfrey Show to Australia in December.

Speaking at a media conference in Sydney today, Qantas Chief Executive Officer, Mr Alan Joyce, said this was a fantastic opportunity for Qantas and the Australian tourism industry.

"The Oprah Winfrey show has a world-wide audience across 145 countries and we are delighted to partner with Tourism Australia on this amazing opportunity to showcase the best Australia has to offer," Mr Joyce said.

"Qantas is an enthusiastic supporter of the Australian tourism industry spending millions of dollars a year to promote Australia.

"As Australia's national carrier we look forward to flying the "Oprah" show correspondents and over 300 of Oprah's most loyal viewers to Australia on our fleet which includes B747-400s and the award- winning A380 aircraft."

Qantas Ambassador-at-Large and Hollywood superstar, Mr John Travolta, joined Ms Winfrey on her season premiere episode to make the surprise announcement to the audience.

Mr Travolta said he was thrilled that Ms Winfrey's audience would fly to Australia with Qantas.

"As part of the Qantas team I am delighted the audience will have the opportunity to travel on the award-winning Qantas A380", Mr Travolta said.

"Qantas is renowned around the world for its exceptional service, outstanding inflight cuisine, award- winning wine list and stylish, comfortable cabins."

Mr Joyce said more than 550,000 passengers have flown on the A380 since it entered service in 2008, and customer feedback about the aircraft has been outstanding. It has won several awards for its Marc Newson-designed onboard product, including the Chicago Athenaeum Good Design(tm) Award for its First Class suite and the Australian International Design Award of the Year for its Economy seat.

Six Qantas A380s are currently in service. A seventh aircraft will arrive later this year, with the fleet growing to 12 by mid-2011, and to 20 in 2015/16.

Qantas operates up to 45 return services per week between Australia and the United States using A380 and B747-400 aircraft. The Qantas A380 flies daily from Sydney to Los Angeles and three times per week Melbourne to Los Angeles.

John Travolta has been a Qantas Ambassador-at-Large since 2002, and over the years has undertaken a number of activities associated with the airline, including the Spirit of Friendship Tour - piloting his own Qantas Boeing 707; the launch of Qantas' inaugural A380 flight between Australia and Los Angeles and, most recently, he attended the Qantas Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and cheered on the Qantas Socceroos at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.