The story
In August 2001, Qantas announced it would establish a low cost airline with a cost base 25-30% lower to operate on routes that were unprofitable. The name was a revival of the Australian Airlines brand that Qantas had acquired in September 1992 when it merged with Australian Airlines.
It commenced operations on 27 October 2002 with four former Qantas Boeing 767-300ERs that were reconfigured with 271 economy seats on flights from Cairns to Fukuoka, Hong Kong, Nagoya, Singapore and Taipei. In 2003, a further two 767-300ERs were added for the commencement of flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Denpasar.
In June 2006 the Australian Airlines brand was retired. The airline's aircraft were refitted with business class seating and repainted back into Qantas livery.
From Wikipedia’s article on Australian Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3