Kangaroo Route

The kangaroo route is a term to denote flights between Europe and Australasia; these flights generally have a stopover along the Southeast Asia flight corridor. Flights along this route are considered to generate high yield for airlines; this is due to the large population of European ancestry in Australia and New Zealand, along with the long distances involved. However, because of agreements between the various governments along the route, the number of airlines allowed to fly the route has traditionally been restricted.

The main stop-over point is at Singapore Changi Airport, where intense competition is fought between Singapore Airlines and a British Airways-Qantas alliance. Over time, other airports have tried to take a bigger share of this stop-over business with varied success. While Bangkok International Airport's share has remained steady (albeit small) in comparison, Kuala Lumpur International Airport lost out substantially in the race when both British Airways and Qantas stopped their flights to the airport altogether, leaving Malaysia Airlines as the only player.PLEASE NOTE!!! AUSTRIAN FLIES FROM VIENNA TO SYDNEY VIA KL AND TO MEL VIA SIN!!! MALAYSIAN IS NOT ONLY PLAYER::: PLEASE FIX Given the range of newer Airbus and Boeing models, it is now possible for direct flights between Europe and Australia, with Perth as the key departure/destination point;[1] it remains to be seen whether airlines will take advantage of this possiblility.

In recent years, Emirates and other airlines in the Middle East have been aggressively promoting the use of their airports (such as Dubai) as stop-over points. The Hong Kong authorities have similarly begun to open up their airspace, allowing Virgin Atlantic to enter this market (since December 2004), and giving Qantas the rights to fly from Hong Kong onwards to London in direct competition with Cathay Pacific.

Routes by airline

Airline	European market	Stopover	Australasian market
Air New Zealand	London Heathrow	Los Angeles	Auckland
British Airways	London Heathrow	Singapore	Melbourne, Sydney
Emirates	London Gatwick, London Heathrow	Dubai	Melbourne, Sydney
Cathay Pacific	Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Paris, Rome	Hong Kong	Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney
Qantas	London Heathrow	Bangkok	Sydney
	London Heathrow	Hong Kong	Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney
	Frankfurt, London Heathrow	Singapore	Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney
Singapore Airlines	Amsterdam, Athens, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Manchester, Paris, Rome, Zurich	Singapore	Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Christchurch, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney
Virgin Atlantic	London Heathrow	Hong Kong	Sydney