Australian airline Qantas is celebrating its 100th anniversary on November 16, a rather rare piece of upbeat news for the aviation industry, shackled by the coronavirus pandemic.

Initially, the airline began its life as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services, which was abbreviated to QANTAS, on November 16, 1920.

Hudson Fysh, Paul McGinness and Fergus McMaster, the three founders believed that the then-nascent business of air travel might be the way to connect various far-flung outposts in the rural regions of Australia.

Earlier, small planes delivered mail and cargo between rural Outback towns, but the airline evolved along with the country and Qantas became Australia’s national carrier in 1959. Its first international flight route was to Singapore in 1935.

Around the world, Qantas is probably best known for its safety record, endurance flying and long list of aviation firsts. Amid the pandemic, Qantas operated many of the “relief flights” and brought Australian citizens back from remote corners of the world.

Like many other airlines around the world, Qantas has also been hit hard by the decline in travel due to the pandemic. It has responded by launching a “flight to nowhere” where passengers spend seven hours flying in a loop across the continent, passing over sites like the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru.

While big plans for the airline’s centennial were scaled back due to local virus control methods, Qantas did operate a scenic flight over Sydney Harbor to celebrate the big day.