Buenos Aires-Darwin: Qantas set to operate a 17-hour special flight

According to information obtained by Aviacionline, Qantas plans to operate a special flight between Buenos Aires and Darwin, Australia, on October 5th. This operation is planned to be operated in a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, with a capacity for 236 passengers.

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For the first time, Buenos Aires and Darwin will be connected non-stop. Qantas’ operation will be, in theory, a repatriation flight for Australians still in Argentina.

The distance between Buenos Aires and Darwin is 14,683 kilometers (9,124 miles), which implies a record for the Australian airline in terms of flights operated with Boeing 787s. Currently, its longest route with these aircraft is Perth – London Heathrow, just over 9,000 miles.

Schedule between Buenos Aires and Darwin – Qantas

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Flight	From	ETD	To	ETA
QF 014	Buenos Aires (EZE)	12:25 pm	Darwin (DRW)	6:45 pm +1

• Departure from Buenos Aires (EZE): October 5th
• Arrival to Darwin (DRW): October 6th

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Clarification: at the time of publication, it is not yet confirmed when the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will arrive in Buenos Aires, and where it will be arriving from.

Darwin Airport

Darwin International Airport is the busiest airport in the Northern Territory and the tenth busiest in Australia. It is the only air station in the city.

The airport is located in the northern suburbs of Darwin, 8 km from the city center at Eaton.

Currently, the airlines with operations in Darwin are:

• Airnorth
• Alliance Airlines
• Jetstar Airways
• Qantas
• Virgin Australia

• Adelaide (ADL): Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia
• Alice Springs (ASP): Alliance Airlines, Airnorth and Qantas
• Brisbane (BNL): Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia
• Broome (BME): Airnorth
• Buenos Aires (EZE): Qantas – October 6th
• Cairns (CNS): Airnorth and Jetstar
• Dili (DIL): Airnorth and Qantas
• Echo Island (ELC): Airnorth
• Groote Eylandt (GTE): Airnorth and Alliance Airlines
• Katherine (KTR): Airnorth
• Kununurra (KNX): Airnorth
• Maningrida (MNG): Airnorth
• Melbourne (MEL): Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia
• Milingimbi Island (MGT): Airnorth
• Nhulunbuy (GOV): Airnorth
• Perth (PER): Airnorth, Qantas and Virgin Australia
• Sydney (SYD): Qantas
• The Granites (GTS): Alliance Airlines
• Townsville (TSV): Airnorth

Qantas and Buenos Aires

On November 24th, 2008, began, until then, the last period of Qantas in Buenos Aires. Operations were three times a week to and from Sydney with the Boeing 747-400(ER), with a capacity for 394 passengers.

The company finally stopped flying to the Argentine capital in March 2012, after just over three years of operations.

Qantas maintained Santiago de Chile as its only Latin American destination from Australia, because of the code share with LATAM.

Flights per leg (Australia – Argentina)

Seats offered per leg (Australia – Argentina)

As a result of COVID-19, Qantas has kept its flights to Santiago de Chile cancelled as of March 2020. There is currently no confirmed restart date.

Qantas and Project Sunrise

Project Sunrise is the name of Qantas’ initiative to achieve non-stop direct flights between Sydney and London or New York. The trip would take around 20 hours and would undoubtedly be the longest flight in history. But such a special flight requires a special aircraft, and for that the Australian carrier has been extensively evaluating the A350 and the Boeing 777X.

In October 2019, the company operated between Sydney and New York, a historic event for commercial aviation. For the first time, both cities were connected non-stop.

The flight lasted 19 hours and 16 minutes, covering just over 16 thousand kilometers.

In addition, in November the airline operated a special flight between London and Sydney as part of Project Sunrise (10,050 miles – 17,800 kilometers).

Although not a major milestone for Qantas, the operation between Buenos Aires and Darwin will remain as an important event, due to the distance, the flight time and the connection for the first and only time between the cities of Argentina and Australia.

See also: Argentina eases sanitary measures and reopens borders to foreigners.