I am sick & tired of hearing people lament the passing of the “good ol’ days” of flying on airliners, when people would dress up and service was fantastic and the seats were roomier.
Sadly they must be having selective amnesia as not once do I hear any of them remember how expensive the tickets were back then!
The last Ansett logo
(Source: Wikimedia)
Back in the mid-90’s when Australians had a choice of Ansett or Qantas to fly with between Sydney & Melbourne (after Compass Airlines had collapsed), the
cheapest fare between the two cities was $239 return. In
today’s money, that’s about $450.
Today you’d only expect to pay that for a last-minute purchase where you had to pay for one of the top economy saver fares to get there & back. More typical fares are around $100 per person each way, or less if you book well in advance.
It was even worse in the 70’s & 80’s with people paying multiple hundreds of dollars each way per person if they wanted to fly. No wonder everyone was doing road trips, taking the bus or getting on trains for those interstate journeys.
Empire Flying Boat Luxury
(Photo from Australian Government Archives)
If you go back far enough, prices were even higher still. When the flying boats were travelling from London to Sydney in 10 days (instead of 40 days by steam ship), the
fare was about 200 UK pounds. That was on par with the average annual wage of the time! Any surprise that it was first class all the way with plenty of room.
These days, the average annual wage in Australia is about $70,000. Imagine paying that for a trip to London?
Yes, the days of luxury, respect & romance are gone from the airlines and it’s largely our fault. We have chased the cheapest fare and the airlines have responded by cutting services & squeezing more people in, helping to keep some form of profit whilst offering super low prices.
Business class on a Virgin Australia 737
(Source: Virgin Australia web site)
If you want to return to the “good ol’ days” of airlines, how about you cough up the money and go business or first class? You’ll be paying about the same in today’s dollars as people used to pay for full economy back in the 70’s & 80’s but in return you’ll get space, comfort, service and quality.
What’s that? You have better uses for your money? Well then, go pay $60 each way for Melbourne to Sydney but don’t let me catch you bemoaning the super-tight seating, lack of amenities and the hygiene of the person sitting next to you.
Sardine class in the economy section of Jetstar’s 787
Heritage Recognition for B24 Restoration Project & its Hangar
In my role as co-host & producer of the Plane Crazy Down Under aviation show, I’ve been fortunate to have a few visits of the B24 Liberator Restoration Project‘s hangar in Werribee. A group of enthusiastic volunteers have been working for many years to restore a Consolidated B24 Liberator heavy bomber from World War II to an all-but-flyable state.
Doug Lindsay (President of the B24 Restoration Project) presents to the crowd
In keeping with the “every two years” aspect of my visits, I dropped by again last weekend to see how the restoration was progressing. Admittedly, it wasn’t just to catch up & show my support for the project: I was also there to capture content as a very special ceremony was taking place.
The ceremony was arranged by Engineers Australia who have recognised the significance of the B24 aircraft (& its restoration) along with the hangar it sits in as part of their Engineering Heritage programme. Presentations were made by Professor Alex Baitch (National President of Engineers Australia), Doug Lindsay (President of the B24 Restoration Project) and Andrew Elsbury MLC (State Member of Parliament) After this, two plaques & explanatory signs were unveiled at the site, with one inside next to the aircraft and the other outside next to the hangar’s wall.
I was able to record some content with a number of the people there and will be presenting that in a future PCDU episode. I also got to catch up with the state of the restoration as lots of amazing work is being done inside the fuselage & wings to run electrical cables, fuel lines, hydraulics and more.
Even better was hearing that the B24 project team are extremely close to securing permanent residence at the Werribee site and even have a very good chance of getting a new hangar. It’s not a done deal but they’re a lot closer to that big goal than they have been and the Engineers Australia Heritage Recognition is certainly helping.
I’m looking forward to going back for another visit to see how the restoration is progressing. Hopefully it won’t be another two years before I can get back down there :)
You can view all my photos of the event on my Flickr stream
B24 Restoration Heritage Sign
Hangar Heritage Sign