Qantas new 100 Years safety video is an epic, with every decade its due

As Qantas celebrates 100 years and many aviation firsts, the Australian carrier has pulled out the stops for their latest safety video.

"100 Years of Style and Safety" is a huge production that strolls through10 decades of air travel. At a leisurely pace.

Brace position? They wait a good 20 years before telling you to fasten your seatbelt . . .

Featuring iconic aircraft and even more iconic looks, the video takes off in an original 1920s Avro 504 bi-plane and "Short Empire" flying boat before transitioning to more modern jet-age aircraft.

To give you a size of the production, the film was shot over three weeks and seven period destinations. As well as authentic Qantas uniforms from yesteryear, the production wardrobe went through 50 wigs and 30 prosthetic moustaches to create the retro look.

The safety video itself is an epic too. With a run time of 8 minutes and 16 seconds, passengers will get their 100-years' worth of travel.

On this side of the Tasman blockbuster safety videos are nothing new. However Qantas's new video is twice as long as Air New Zealand's 2018 "It's Kiwi Safety Video".

At 4'38" Julian Dennison's rap-freestyle on aviation safety only felt longer at the time.

While Qantas avoids rap music entirely, there are few other genres it doesn't touch on. Noise International's Bruce Heald arranged a soundtrack that reflects a century of music, with Australian Jazz musician James Morrison playing saxophone, trumpets and trombones.

Qantas' CEO Alan Joyce was also waxing lyrical about the special centenary video, calling it "a tribute to a century of our people, the changing styles, and our innovation. The one thing that has never changed is our commitment to safety."

With 55 million passengers carried across the network ever year, the airline stressed the importance of a big production safety video in keeping travellers' attention, "even after they've seen it multiple times."

At nearly ten minutes long, one imagines it wouldn't take too many viewings before they were nearly at their destination.