Australia’s Qantas is updating the iconic flying Kangaroo livery on its aircraft with the first aircraft unveiled on 27 October. Qantas is the national airline of Australia and the Australian people consider the airline to be a symbol of the country.

What is a Kangaroo?

The Kangaroo is a marsupial which is native to Australia featuring large hind legs to propel itself by leaping or hopping. It appears on Australia’s coat of arms, on some currency and as the emblem of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Its young gestate in its mother’s pouch and are called Joey’s.


Qantas services between Australia and Europe used to have many en route sectors due to the range of the aircraft at the time. These came to be referred to as hops and what hops? A Kangaroo. This is one reason why the Kangaroo was adopted as the Qantas logo back in 1944.

Evolution of a Kangaroo

The Qantas Kangaroo has gone through only five iterations since it was introduced and some of these can be seen below.


The most radical change was the removal of the Kangaroo’s wings in the livery in the 1980s. Australian’s got over this devastation eventually of course!

The 2016 Update

The update is fairly extensive though it may look like not much has changed for the outsider. The titles have a new font and style and for the first time the airline name appears on the underside of the aircraft. The Kangaroo has been ‘streamlined’ and I notice that it’s lost its forelimbs or hands which is rather a strange choice. The tail logo will appear on the inside of the wingtips so those photos taken out the window will show the logo.

My favourite change is the fact the original Qantas jet age Kangaroo will feature under the cockpit windows along with the aircraft name. That was an inspired choice with a real sense of history and I like that.

What do you think of the new Qantas livery? Please leave any comments below. Thanks for reading!

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