Qantas looking at direct flights to Brazil

QANTAS is considering tapping into the booming Brazilian economy by flying either to Sao Paulo or the popular tourist destination of Rio de Janiero.

Any decision by the airline to launch flights to Brazil is likely to result in it dropping services to Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, because of insufficient traffic to maintain two routes to South America.

Qantas would not comment, but insiders said it was not a surprise to hear that Brazil was high on the airline's list of possible destinations because the resource-rich economy was booming. Sao Paulo's two airports have about twice the annual passenger traffic as those in Buenos Aires.

The Australia-Buenos Aires route is understood to still be unprofitable for Qantas despite a general improvement in demand for international flights.

Argentina's flag carrier, Aerolineas Argentinas, is planning to fly directly between Sydney and Buenos Aires early next year rather than stop over in Auckland, which would prove a bigger threat to Qantas on the route.

However, flying to Sao Paulo or Rio de Janiero would be a challenge for Qantas because of the long flight time. It would have to be flown by a four-engine aircraft such as a 747-400 jumbo, which would not be able to take a full payload because of the distance involved.

Some insiders said a broader alliance with Chile's flag carrier, LAN, that allowed Qantas to link to more South American destinations made better sense than launching direct flights to Brazil. Qantas already code shares on LAN flights between Sydney and Chile's capital, Santiago.

Insiders also said it was not the right time for Qantas to launch a route and it would be better to wait to see whether the global economy avoided entering a double-dip recession.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/qantas-looking-at-direct-flights-to-brazil-20100906-14wmt.html