Oceania’s intercontinental connections | Flightradar24 Blog

Australia is the only country in the world to have flights to South America and Africa operated near Antarctica. Four airlines serve these two markets, with Qantas (QF/QFA) being the main and only Australian carrier, offering flights from Perth and Sydney to South Africa, and to Santiago de Chile from Sydney‘s Kingsford International Airport. China Eastern Airlines (MU/CES) and LATAM (LA/LAN) operate in the Oceania-South America market, while South African Airways (SA/SAA) does so in the Oceania-Africa market.

The longest route performed is Sydney-Santiago de Chile, covering approximately 11,350 kilometers, with a flight time of about 12 hours for the Eastbound leg (SYD–SCL) and more than 14 hours for the Westbound trip (SCL–SYD). However, in February, South America hosted a historic and unprecedented flight, which was operated by a SuperJumbo.

On February 22nd at 22:28 local time, this Airbus A380-842 departed Sydney bound for São Paulo Guarulhos (GRU/SBGR), Brazil’s main airport. The aircraft was operating flight QF6043, which indicated that it was a positioning or ferry flight, as Qantas uses QF60xx flight numbers for this type of operation.

Sydney and São Paulo are separated by more than 13,000 kilometers, and there have never been commercial passenger flights between them. Nor have there been commercial flights between Australia and Brazil, although Qantas had visited some Brazilian airports a few years ago.

Its last visit to Brazil was in August 2016, during the Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro. The Boeing 747-438(ER), with registration VH-OEG, operated a charter flight between Rio de Janeiro and Sydney to bring back the Australian athletes after their participation in the Olympics.

Previously, as can be seen on JetPhotos, the Australian airline had performed several charter flights to three Brazilian cities in particular, being Foz do Iguaçu (IGU/SBFI), Manaus (MAO/SBEG), and Rio de Janeiro Galeão. The three cities were part of world tours organized by travel agencies, flying on board Qantas Boeing 747-300 or Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

At 23:18 local time on the same day, 14 hours and 50 minutes following its departure, the Airbus A380-842 landed on runway 09R at Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo. It parked at the airport’s new terminal (T3) right next to another Airbus A380, Emirates’ A6-EVN, which was operating flight EK261/262 on the Dubai-São Paulo-Dubai route.

Six hours after arrival, more precisely on February 23rd at 05:48 local time, the Airbus A380-800 departed from Guarulhos Airport on flight QF308 to Sydney, with a stopover in Auckland (AKL/NZAA), which was finally not made, arriving in Sydney from Sao Paulo at 09:49 local time on February 24th. The flight between Sao Paulo and Sydney took 16 hours and 28 minutes.

The million-dollar question. What was the reason for the flight to Brazil of a Qantas Airbus A380?

According to the Brazilian aviation media AEROIN, the SuperJumbo was chartered by Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, as he had performed in São Paulo on February 21st and was due to fly to Australia to continue his world tour called “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.” Therefore, this A380 flew to the Brazilian city on a ferry flight, i.e., without passengers on board, and returned to Oceania with Bad Bunny and 244 other passengers on board, as reported by Analytic Flying.

Brazil does not have non-stop flights to Australia or New Zealand. Oceania is the only continent to which Brazil does not have regular non-stop flights, mainly due to the long distance involved.

Regarding Latin American countries, Chile and Argentina are the only ones connected to Oceania via non-stop flights, with Chile being the main market. LATAM is the market-leading airline with three routes, followed by Qantas, which has been offering flights to the Chilean capital for 14 years.

For its part, Argentina resumed flights to Oceania in December last year, a historically important market for the country with which it had not been connected since March 2020. The only airline operating is China Eastern Airlines, China’s second-largest airline, with Boeing 777-300(ER) aircraft configured for 316 passengers.

In addition, LATAM operates between Santiago de Chile and Easter Island (Isla de Pascua in Spanish or Rapa Nui in the local language), a Chilean island located in the Pacific Ocean, which is considered part of Oceania.

To read more about the history of flights between Oceania and Argentina, click here.

The first regular flights between Oceania and Latin America began in the 1980s, but services between Oceania and Africa had already been operating for about 30 years by that time.

On November 14th, 1948, Qantas Empire Airways made history by connecting the continents of Oceania and Africa in an unprecedented first-ever flight, operating a test trip between Sydney and Johannesburg using an Avro Lancastrian, a British-Canadian aircraft produced in the 1940s and 1950s.

The route in question consisted of four stops: Melbourne, Perth, the Cocos Islands, and Mauritius. It arrived in the South African city on November 20th after a six-day flight totaling 42 hours in the air. On the return trip, the aircraft followed the same route, with the addition of a technical stop in Réunion between Johannesburg and Mauritius.

As for the first scheduled flight, it took place on September 1st, 1952, also operated by Qantas, though in this case using Lockheed Constellation L-749A aircraft. For the first few years, the airline operated the same route, later replacing the stopover in Perth with one in Darwin, which reduced the total travel time.

Qantas was the only carrier in this market until 1957, when the Australian airline signed an agreement with South African Airways to operate between the two countries on alternate weeks. Flights continued to be operated by Qantas using its Constellations, while SAA did so with Douglas DC-7s.

Thus, South African Airways launched its flights to Australia on October 29th, 1957, providing the Johannesburg-Mauritius-Cocos Island-Perth route. Qantas was the only airline connecting South Africa with Melbourne and Sydney on the same flight.

Over the years, the number of stopovers and total flight hours gradually decreased with the introduction of more modern aircraft with greater range. There were also periods when only one airline operated—either Qantas or South African Airways—though both are currently active in this market.

Qantas commenced the 21st century with a major announcement, confirming the launch of nonstop flights between Sydney and Johannesburg starting in 2001 using Boeing 747-400 aircraft. Meanwhile, South African Airways continued to serve Perth, having replaced its Boeing 747s with Airbus A340-200s.

In 2020, following its bankruptcy, South African Airways ceased operations on its Johannesburg-Perth route, which it was performing by Airbus A340-300 aircraft. As a result, Qantas became the sole operator on the South Africa-Australia market, using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, as the Boeing 747-400(ER)s had been grounded due to the pandemic.

After recovering and gradually resuming operations, the South African airline confirmed in January 2024 that it would resume service to Perth, reestablishing its connection with Australia following a four-year hiatus. The flights, also operated by Airbus A340-300 aircraft, were restarted on April 28th, 2024, three times a week. Due to strong demand, this frequency was maintained, increasing to five weekly flights in November 2025.

On September 30th, 2024, Qantas introduced the Airbus A380-800 on its flights between Sydney and Johannesburg, marking a historic milestone as these were the first services in this market with the SuperJumbos. The Airbus A380s replaced the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, boosting the number of seats offered per flight from 236 to 485.

The first flight with the Airbus A380 was operated by the registered VH-OQH, departing Sydney at 10:20 local time and arriving in Johannesburg the same day at 16:22 local time. Since then, all flights on this route were conducted by the Airbus A380, with four to six weekly frequencies depending on the season. 

The most recent update to the Oceania-Africa market took place on December 7th, 2025, following the inauguration of a second regular route operated by the Australian carrier.

Qantas launched its flights between Perth and Johannesburg, which it will operate three times per week using Airbus A330-200 aircraft configured for 243 passengers. The oneworld member entered the market served by South African Airways, competing for the first time on a nonstop route between the two continents.

Throughout its history, the Australian airline operated 12 Airbus A380-800s, all of which were incorporated brand new from the factory between September 2008 and December 2011. They are all operational except for two, with registration numbers VH-OQE and VH-OQF, which were withdrawn in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both are parked at Victorville International Airport (VCV/KVCV), partially scrapped.

The 10 active Airbus A380-800s are based in Sydney, operating flights to Africa, America, Asia, and Europe. According to our database, in addition to Johannesburg, Dallas, London Heathrow, Los Angeles, and Singapore are included in the schedule.

Qantas operates the Sydney – Singapore – London Heathrow route and vice versa with Airbus A380 aircraft on a daily basis, with traffic rights on the Singapore – London – Singapore leg.

Cover photo: © Cooper.Aviation – JetPhotos (Sydney, Australia)