Southern Cross Route

Southern Cross Route is a term for passenger flights from Australasia (or Oceania) to Europe via the Western Hemisphere. The term was coined by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines when they began services from Sydney to Vancouver in 1949.^[1][2] The route was extended to Europe following the signing of an air services agreement between Australia and the United Kingdom in 1957,^[3] which saw Qantas flying from Sydney to London via Los Angeles and New York using Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellations.^[4]: 145 The name is in honor of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's historic 1928 flight in the aircraft Southern Cross.^[5] The equivalent route running through the Eastern Hemisphere is known as the Kangaroo Route.^[6]

Qantas operated on the route from 1949 — 1974, when it discontinued the London leg of the trip.^[4]: 148 BOAC began flying to Australia via the South Pacific in April 1967.^[7] Air New Zealand operated an Auckland–Los Angeles–London Heathrow from 1982 — 2020.^[8] Other airlines to use the route include Air Tahiti Nui, French Bee, Air France, Air Canada, Aerolíneas Argentinas, and LAN Airlines.

Operations

Aside from codeshares and alliances/partners, airlines on the Southern Cross Route (with seasonal destinations in italics) are the following:

Airline	Destination in Oceania	Intermediate Stop	Destination(s) in Europe
Air Canada	Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney	Vancouver	Dublin, Frankfurt, London–Heathrow, Zurich
Air France	Papeete	Los Angeles	Paris–CDG
Air Tahiti Nui	Papeete	Los Angeles
		Seattle[9]
American Airlines	Auckland, Brisbane	Dallas/Fort Worth[10]	Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Frankfurt, London–Heathrow, Madrid, Paris–CDG, Rome–Fiumicino
	Auckland,[11] Brisbane, Sydney	Los Angeles	London–Heathrow
Delta Air Lines	Auckland,[12][13] Brisbane, Melbourne, Papeete, Sydney		Paris–CDG[14]
French Bee	Papeete	San Francisco	Paris–Orly
LATAM Chile	Auckland, Melbourne[15] Sydney[16]	Santiago	Madrid[17]
United Airlines	Sydney	Houston[18]	Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London–Heathrow, Munich
	Melbourne, Sydney	Los Angeles	London–Heathrow
	Adelaide,[19] Auckland, Brisbane, Christchurch,[20][21] Melbourne, Papeete, Sydney	San Francisco	Amsterdam[22], Barcelona[23][24] Frankfurt, London–Heathrow, Munich, Paris–CDG, Rome–Fiumicino[25], Zurich

See also

• Kangaroo Route – the Southern Cross Route's counterpart traveling via the Eastern Hemisphere
• Wallaby Route - Route launched by Qantas in 1952 connecting Sydney to Johannesburg
• Fiesta Route - Qantas' route that existed from 1964-1975 connecting Sydney to London via Fiji, Tahiti, Acapulco, Mexico City, The Bahamas, and Bermuda.^[26][27]