nowhereman
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- Joined
- Nov 12, 2013
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Has anyone heard rumours about Qantas flying direct to Rio de Janeiro?
This might be handy with the 2014 World Cup around the corner.
This might be handy with the 2014 World Cup around the corner.
Has anyone heard rumours about Qantas flying direct to Rio de Janeiro?
This might be handy with the 2014 World Cup around the corner.
Turns around and comes straight back from SCL.
I'm thinking a one-off for the WC is likely. There are good connections in SCL so not worth it IMO.
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How long does that bird spend on the ground in SCL? I know flights are not daily so it must be some amount of time.
-but, is there enough demand? Your guess is as good as mine.
-in terms of fifth freedom rights, Chile has a fairly liberal approach to this and it seems Qantas would be allowed to sell tickets on a SCL-GIG flight. In fact, it is currently possible to buy tickets between Santiago and Rio on the upcoming Qantas tag flights on 27 and 30 June - and a ticket on the 30th June flight can be bought for just US$60!.
Unlike the LAX-JFK tag flights, there aren't two other flights (from MEL & BNE) to connect to the flight, and also unlike NYC, Rio is not the No 1. business destination in South America. Therefore it would seem unlikely that demand would be enough, given that a good chunk of SYD-SCL pax would probably terminate in SCL or connect to other South America destinations on LAN services.
I see quite a bit of merit to this, particularly with Brazil being an emerging market with a lot more people travelling, and they could market it as "the quickest way to Brazil/Australia", among other things. Rio and São Paulo are also hubs for TAM, which has recently joined oneworld.