Jaunted

· This is a Qantas restructure, so let's put that out there right away. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is pretty plain when he explains why the following changes need to take place: "I have seen some great brand names like Pan Am and TWA disappear in the airline industry. We want Qantas to be around for the next 90 years. We want Qantas to survive. We have to change in order to do that."

· Say goodbye to Qantas planes flying some top international routes, routes which will now be Qantas codeshares. For example, the Qantas Bangkok to London and Hong Kong to London routes will be handed over to British Airways, while LAN will pick up where Qantas leaves off in South America. The good news is no US destinations will be effected.

· Just when you thought First Class couldn't get any better, Qantas is about to add three new lounges at at LAX, Singapore-Changi and HKG, all three designed by Aussie Marc Newson (who did this beautiful one in Sydney).

· Six A380s on order for Qantas will have delivery pushed back six years, and Qantas won't take its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner until 2013. Furthermore, four 747s will be retired and those remaining will all be retrofitted with updated A380 interiors by mid-2014.

· While Qantas is holding off on the A380s, they'll be ponying up the cash to buy 110 A320 Neos (the new, fuel-efficient A320 version). What'll they do with those, you ask? Oh, just start a new airline. Qantas has announced plans (but not very many details) on what they're calling a premium asian airline, mainly to compete with Singapore Airlines for the affluent Chinese market. There's no name or even hub announced for the airline, though it will not be Qantas and speculation points to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a base.

· That's not the only new airline. Qantas will expand their Jetstar operations to Japan, with the launch of Jetstar Japan, a low-cost airline partnership with good old Japan Airlines. Remember them? Jetstar Japan will start small with three of the new A320s, flying from Tokyo-Narita and Osaka-Kansai to domestic destinations like Okinawa, Sapporo and Fukuoka.

· The techie "Q-Tag" bag tag program will continue to expand as Qantas goes ahead with updates to checking in and baggage handling. We're talking an ePassport system and one-touch checkin. For now you'll only encounter this fun between Australia and New Zealand, but the coming years should bring it overseas as well.

· 1,000 jobs will be lost. This won't be felt by passengers as Qantas is cutting redundancies, but still it's an important fact to mention.

Got it? Now we need a nap.

[Photo: Simon_Sees]