Qantas - Modern Family Goes to Australia

Qantas - Modern Family Goes to Australia

The United States is one of the biggest source markets for people visiting Australia. To promote the airline and the country, Qantas in recent years has partnered with Twentieth Century Fox Television to arrange visits of Oprah (2010) and Ellen DeGeneres (2013).

Oprah Winfrey filmed four episodes down under in 2010, bringing with her 300 audience members who were hosted across Australia, and the following year half of US visitors to Australia said they had been influenced to come by Oprah’s show. On a similar note, Qantas claims it has seen a 22 percent increase in inbound flights to New South Wales since the airing of the Australian Ellen episode.

This February, Qantas flew the cast of one of America’s most successful comedy series ‘Modern Family’ to Australia (on an A380 that was renamed as ‘Modern Family Flyer’) to film a special holiday episode during two weeks.

There’s little known about the said episode, other than Phil Dunphy (played by actor Ty Burrell) will have an allergic reaction to Vegemite and get struck by a kangaroo, while his son Luke (Nolan Gould) goes in search of topless women at Bondi Beach.

Qantas also gave a fan and his/her friend a chance to appear in the show’s episode in a walk-on role. The nationwide contest was open to any Qantas passenger who made a booking between February 5 and 14, with frequent flyers having a double chance of winning.

The holiday special will air later this year and is projected to reach 125 million viewers worldwide, Says Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.