Australian Aviation — December 2017

8 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION DECEMBER 2017

NOTAM

GERARD FRAWLEY

Managing Editor

MANAGING EDITOR

Gerard Frawley

NEWS EDITOR

Jordan Chong

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Andrew McLaughlin

SENIOR CONTRIBUTORS

Tom Ballantyne, Max Blenkin,

Geoffrey Thomas, John Walton,

Owen Zupp

ART DIRECTOR

Daniel Frawley

CIRCULATION MANAGER & ACTING

ADVERTISING MANAGER

Louise Harry

PROOFREADER

Bruce McLaughlin

CONTRIBUTORS

Eric Allen, Tony Arbon,

Lenn Bayliss, Rob Finlayson, 

Chris Frame, Seth Jaworski,

Mark Jessop, Chris Milne,

Tony Moclair, Robert Nutbrown,

Dave Prossor, Gordon Reid,

Ian Thompson, Paul Sadler.

PUBLISHER

Phantom Media Pty Ltd

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PO Box 3926,

Manuka ACT 2603,

Australia.

Phone: (02) 6232 7474

Fax: (02) 6260 6747

[email protected]

Printed by Bluestar Web.

Distributed to newsagents by

Gordon and Gotch.

Ph: 1300 650 666

ISSN 0813-

© Phantom Media 2017.

All material published in

Australian Aviation is copyright

and may not be used without the

express permission of the publisher.

Hello Dreamliner, pharewell Phantom

12 years is a long time in aviation, and aviation publishing

I

t’s a funny little coincidence.

In this issue ofAustralian

Aviationwe report on the

delivery of Qantas’s first Boeing

787 Dreamliner, 12 years after

the airline first placed its order

for the type in late 2005.

Of course the Qantas Group

took delivery of its first 787 in

2011, when the first of 11 787-8s

was handed over to low-cost

carrier subsidiary Jetstar.

But for the parent airline, it’s

been a very long time coming.

The Australian aviation industry,

Qantas and Boeing have changed

enormously in those 12 years.

Back then Jetstar was a nascent

budget airline flying a dozen or so

Boeing 717s and Airbus A320s

under the leadership of a young

Alan Joyce.

Back then the troubled

gestation of the 787, including

its delayed first flight, supply

chain and production headaches,

and a grounding due to smoking

batteries, were still in the future.

And back then, Qantas was

on the cusp of a run of record

profits, before the global financial

crisis, record fuel prices, the

QF32 uncontained engine failure,

a grounding during a bitter

industrial dispute and a record

financial loss all buffeted, and

helped reshape Qantas to the

airline business it is today.

Under a still fairly young

Alan Joyce today’s Qantas is a

business transformed, one that

again is enjoying robust profits,

is innovating in its use of digital

technologies, and is enjoying a

significantly improved reputation

for service delivery. On top of all

that, Qantas is again reclaiming its

crownasaninnovatorinlong-

haul flying, with its plans to begin

nonstop flights between Perth and

London with the 787 next year, not

to mention the planned ‘Project

Sunrise’ nonstop flights from the

east coast of Australia to London

and New York from 2022.

There’s little doubt that Qantas

has, to use Alan Joyce’s own

words, got its “mojo” back.

And I’m really confident that

at Australian Aviationwe too

are rediscovering our mojo. This

edition is a milestone issue in

not only reporting on Qantas’s

long-awaited first 787 delivery, but

for also being the lastAustralian

Aviation to be published by

Phantom Media.

The first issue ofAustralian

Aviation published by Phantom

Media hit the streets just over

12 years ago in early 2005,

around the time that Qantas was

contemplating its 787 order.

Since that March 2005 edition a

further 140 issues of the magazine

have been published by Phantom

Media, the small business set up

by myself, Lee-Anne Simm and

Andrew McLaughlin to take the

reins atAustralian Aviationfrom

founding editor Jim Thorn.

But from the January-February

2018 issue it is time to hand over

the reins for Australian Aviation to

new owners, Aviator Media.

The driving force behind

Aviator Media is Christian ‘Boo’

Boucousis, a former RAAF

Hornet pilot who since leaving the

military has enjoyed a successful

business career.

Boo is an entrepreneur with

the energy, ideas and enthusiasm

to take Australian Aviation to new

heights.

Change ahead won’t be too

dramatic. Indeed I am excited to

be staying on as managing editor

of Australian Aviation, and I’ll still

remain invested in the brand, both

emotionally – as I have been for 25

years now since I started with the

magazine as a cadet journalist in

1992! – and financially, as a minor

shareholder in Aviator Media.

Under Aviator Media’s

stewardship I know that Australian

Aviation will hit new heights

by delivering more of what our

readers love – more stories and

pages in the magazine, more

content on our website, and more

and deeper engagement on our

social media channels.

I haven’t been this excited

about the future of Australian

Aviation for, I’d say, 12 years!

Who is the Phantom? Phantom Media

was named after McDonnell’s legendary

F-4 Phantom II.DEFENCE