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Qantas is considering tapping into the booming Brazilian economy by flying to either Sao Paulo or the popular tourist destination of Rio de Janeiro, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
Any decision to begin flights to Brazil is likely to result in the airline dropping services to Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, because there is insufficient traffic to maintain two routes to South America.
Qantas would not comment on the speculation, 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 of 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.
Flying to Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro could 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 Boeing 747-400, which would not be able to take a full payload because of the distance between Sydney and either of the two Brazilian cities.
Some insiders said a broader alliance with Chile's flag carrier, LAN, which allowed Qantas to link to more South American destinations, made better sense than direct flights to Brazil.
Qantas already codeshares on LAN flights between Sydney and Chile's capital, Santiago.
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