Qantas Conducts 3 Special Flights To Buenos Aires Amid Rugby Championship

From Argentina to Australia

Qantas has 11 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft in its extensive fleet. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Qantas and Argentina

The Australian flag carrier has somewhat of an on-off relationship with Argentina, having first flown to the South American country between 1998 and 2002 via Auckland. Qantas then became the first Australian airline to operate non-stop services in 2008, using its Boeing 747-400 aircraft. However, the direct flight services were slashed three years later, in 2011, when the Chief Executive Officer felt that the route was not worth it at that time.

It was until about a decade later that the oneworld member airline would revisit the Argentine capital for a record-breaking 15,020 kilometers direct flight from Buenos Aires to Darwin in 2021. Although QF14 was a repatriation flight to ferry approximately 107 Australians home on the Boeing 787 -9 Dreamliner, the flight itself was considered historic for its entire 17 hours and 25 minutes, making it the longest commercial flight in the airline’s history then.

Qantas had announced back then:

“The first ever non-stop Qantas flight between Buenos Aires and Darwin flew entirely in daylight with smooth conditions, experienced average headwinds of up to 35 kilometers per hour and temperatures as low as -75 Celsius while flying over Antarctica.”

Qantas has a history of setting and breaking records for long-haul flights, but most have never been a permanent flight service. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Possible reignition

Although the chartered flights are primarily due to the Rugby Championship games, it could also be a slight tease from Qantas about a possible reignition for flight services to Argentina. After a disastrous two-year fling with the pandemic, and when Australia remained a little longer than anyone expected, the Australian carrier has been trying to attract passengers to its once-mighty international network to aid in recovery.

Unfortunately, the road to recovery has been somewhat complex as Qantas struggled to maintain its prestigious reputation and faced severe financial consequences after realizing it was ill-prepared to handle the pent-up travel demand. Considering the bar is set much higher for a flag carrier, the recent consecutive upsets with Qantas have passengers feeling betrayed.

And perhaps in an attempt to win over its passengers yet again, the airline is hoping a tease to Argentina might do the trick. While Qantas is yet to release any details of its year-end schedule for this year, the possibility of adding Buenos Aires might seem likely, given how the Argentine capital would make a good winter getaway from the sizzling Australian heat.

Source: Aviationonline