Mexico?
 

There was a rumour about QF starting service to Benito Juarez Airport late 2009. It has not been confirmed - but neither has it been debunked.

Is it likely? With what equipment?

MEX-SYD is 12 984 km by great circle. Slightly longer than LAX-MEL (12 748).

And B747-400ER struggles on LAX-MEL. QF has a plane with a better range - A380. MEX is hot and high, but A380 has huge wing area, low wing loading even at full load, and 4 adequate engines, so it should perform well.

However, the Benito Juarez Airport is soft, like Canberra. Heavy planes would tend to sink into ground.

Also, does Mexico have the market size and travel demand for A380?

Source?

Qantas is cutting routes at the moment to preserve cash so I would rate the chances at slightly less than a martian serving me breakfast in bed. ;)

At any rate I don't think this would ever really be a viable route.

Second that - doesn't really sound like a very profitable route to me. Personally, I'd love to see it, but I really don't think they could justify a SYD-MEX route, especially using an A380....

Source of Rumour
 

Sounds like it was from a.net:rolleyes:
QF codeshares with Mexicana, which suits both players, and due to the stated technical difficulties I doubt we would see it in 2009. Even a 787-9 I would doubt.
Oh well QF could use a 707 and use it as a stop to Europe.;)

It was posted on Airliners.net from a post on wikipedia.

Very reliabel sources.... NOT!

Can't see QF flying to Mexico anytime soon!

The codeshare does not include transpacific flights - just connecting in California. And THAT means entering USA.

Qantas does have SYD-SCL now. As QF gets more A380-s (which have a longer range than B747-400ER, let alone the rest of 747 fleet), what would be the next Latin American destinations? EZE? GRU? (GRU needs even longer range than MEX. And it cannot be done with 787-9: the big advantage of A380 is its 4 engines, so it is ETOPS proof and can fly in the empty South Pacific and Antarctic.)

QF only codeshares on LA metal SYD-AKL-SCL. QF flies its own metal SYD-EZE. 4 engines are have nothing to do with ETOPS (T = Twin Engines). Really, an ETOPS aircraft is probably a better bet in remote areas because of system redundancies, back-ups and reliabilities.

Edited: In any case, if QF were to fly a 744 to MEX, they would probably only run a flight down from LAX that would otherwise sit on the ground for 12 hrs. The existing codeshare deal is probably good enough for their needs.

SYD-SCL is a codeshare operated by LAN.
QF is already flying SYD-EZE-QF17

What makes you think QF will add more destinations in Latin America? Or actually anywhere? I would be surprised if they even keep the EZE flights beyond next year.

:eek::eek::eek: Don't say that, I'm about to book an award flight when the "window" opens soon.

Okay, I take it back. :D

Thanks :). Perhaps you could have said: "I doubt they will persist with the EZE flights from 1 January 2010 onwards - but expect that QF will guarantee to fully maintain the existing schedule up to that time"...

Wasn't someone a few months ago talking up Tijuana as a QF city....so it could get transcon US domestic pax.....:rolleyes:

Tijuana! Lovely city. Love it. Nice locals, great food. Just charming.

Consider this
http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=&...OR=&MAP-STYLE=

Where are the routes which QF could not easily fly with 747-400 non-ER and with world fleet of just 6 747-400ER, but which make sense with the range of A380-800? Note that QF has less payload than any other A380 operator (QF 450 seats, SQ 471, EK 489).

SYD-EZE is 11 789 km. SYD-LAX is 12 051 km. In the other direction, SYD-DXB is 12 039 km, and shall soon be flown by A380 - that of EK.

South Africa is already closer than 11 500 km. The next 2000 km are in Central and Eastern Africa, with few interesting big destinations. SYD-SDA (13 400 km) is hardly interesting, either. Nor is western Siberia.

In Western US, beyond LAX and SFO, there are few big destinations that are not better reached by connecting in west coast gateways. SYD-PHX (12 550 km), SYD-SLC (12 897 km), SYD-DEN (13 435 km) sound like minor, point-to-point points. SYD-ORD at 14 857 km, gets hard without A380-800R (which Qantas may well get if and when Airbus bothers to offer it).

But SYD-MEX (12 984 km) and SYD-GRU (13 387 km) look like major destinations reachable by A380.