New Qantas Safety Video Is No-Nonsense & Half The Length
Less travel documentary, more actual planes.
Qantas has dropped its widely criticised safety video in favour of a new no-nonsense approach that is nearly six minutes shorter than its predecessor. Running just 3 minutes 57 seconds, the new video is about 58% shorter and ditches the previous focus on global destinations, in favour of a more direct approach to safety.
After years of scenic landscapes, sweeping destination shots and what often felt like a tourism advertisement, Qantas has finally returned its safety video to a logical setting. The airline’s new in-flight safety video is not only dramatically shorter, but also includes something that was strangely missing before: actual aircraft and passenger cabins.
Qantas’ 2026 safety video focuses squarely on demonstrating key safety procedures, with real cabin crew guiding passengers through the familiar instructions.
“Safety videos are a critical part of flying…our latest safety video is filmed on board our aircraft and in our training centres and features our people demonstrating key safety information for our customers,” remarks Qantas Safety Executive Mark Cameron.
The new safety video is now rolling out across the Qantas fleet and opens with a scene at the newly built Western Sydney International Airport. You can watch it below.
The previous video launched in 2024 and ran for 9 minutes and 32 seconds, with nothing related to aircraft or safety appearing until the 72-second mark. It was always slightly amusing on board to see cabin crew start the video, only to remain standing in the aisle for more than a minute before the safety demonstration even began.
In fact, the only aircraft featured in the video was a helicopter. There wasn’t even a mock aircraft cabin. Safe to say the old video faced criticism for droning on and distracting viewers from the safety information it was supposed to deliver.
You can view the previous safety documentary below. It began with an Indigenous crew member revealing her magic place in the Northern Territory before touring other staff and passengers’ favourite destinations around the world. It features Jaipur, India; Rome, Italy; Queenstown, New Zealand; and even Lapland in northern Finland.
Airlines regularly refresh their safety videos in an effort to keep passengers engaged, particularly frequent flyers who may have seen the demonstration dozens of times. Normally, the simplest approach works best, and in this case, that means keeping the message clear, the runtime short, and the setting somewhere passengers might actually recognise.
