China Eastern to Code Share on Qantas Flights to Santiago

Qantas has asked Australia’s International Air Services Commission (IASC) to allow China Eastern Airlines to code share on its flights to Santiago (SCL). Qantas is seeking a variation on Determination [2024] IASC 125 that allocated it frequencies on the Australia - Chile country pair.

In the July 21, 2025, letter signed by Megan Morris, Qantas’s head of international affairs, the airline said China Eastern wanted to code share on Qantas’s Sydney (SYD) – Santiago flights.

Qantas currently operates four weekly round-trips on the route using a 236-passenger three cabin class B787-9.

“Qantas seeks to vary Determination [2024] IASC 125, allocating seven frequencies per week in each direction on the Chile route, to permit China Eastern to code share on Qantas operated service,” Morris told IASC.

“The code share arrangements enable China Eastern to expand its selling proposition by independently marketing and pricing services between China and Chile via Australia, enhancing the range of choices and benefits for consumers,” she added. “Qantas, as the operating carrier, intends to provide China Eastern with access to available inventory on a free sale basis.”

“We request that this application be considered against the ‘reasonable capability criterion’ as defined in section 8 of the Minister’s Policy Statement.”

China Eastern Airlines does not fly to any airports in South America. However, it recently made waves by saying it would start flying to Buenos Aires (EZE) in December, via Auckland (AKL).

The state-owned Chinese airline already enjoys a close working relationship with Qantas and has existing code share arrangements in place on other routes, including on Qantas-operated flights from Sydney, Melbourne (MEL), Brisbane (BNE), and Perth (PER) to Singapore (SIN) and China Eastern operated flights between Melbourne and Shanghai (PVG) and Sydney and Hangzhou (HGH), Jinan (TNA), Nanjing (NKG), and Wuhan (WUH).

Photo: Boeing