Qantas has recruited wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin as the face of its new "Australia in the Sky" campaign, which is now rolling out across North America, the UK and Asia. The idea is simple: your Australian holiday shouldn't start at the arrivals hall — it should begin the moment you board.
The shoot took place at Australia Zoo's The Crocodile Hunter Lodge and inside a Qantas cabin, and it leans into Australian quirks. In one spot, Irwin helpfully translates slang for the world: "nah yeah" means yes, "yeah nah" means no. The launch image goes further, filling an entire aircraft cabin with multiple Roberts. There's also a genuinely sweet backstory woven in: Brisbane-based cabin crew member Dan Jameson once had Irwin doodle a crocodile on his arm during a flight, then had the sketch permanently tattooed — years before this campaign brought them back together.
For travellers, the real substance sits behind the celebrity. The campaign is built around Qantas Explorer fares: book an international Qantas flight to Australia and you can add discounted Economy or Business fares on the same itinerary to more than 45 domestic destinations. The discount works out to 30% off the base fare (before taxes and charges) on multi-city travel within the country — a handy structure if you're planning a route like Sydney, Uluru, Cairns and Perth in one trip rather than a single-city stay.
The push also runs alongside Tourism Australia in several markets, and Qantas will back the 2026 Steve Irwin Gala in Brisbane, which raises conservation funds through Wildlife Warriors — so expect the Irwin family connection to stay visible.
Why does this matter to holidaymakers? If you're flying to Australia from the US, UK or Asia on Qantas anyway, bundling domestic legs into the same booking could shave a meaningful amount off what you'd pay booking internal flights separately. Australia's distances are brutal — Sydney to Perth is a five-hour flight — so any structured discount on multi-city travel is worth pricing up before you book anything piecemeal. And if the campaign's warm, wildlife-flavoured portrait of Australia nudges you off the beaten coastal track and toward the Outback, the reef or the zoo itself, that's rather the point.
Karryon.
