have you ever wondered why you can't fly directly from East Asia to South America instead you have to stop at an airport in between and catch another connecting flight to reach your final destination in today's world where flying across continents is common you'd expect there to be direct flights between these two regions so why is there this missing connection this might puzzle you especially when you consider the numbers South America is home to about 442 million people while Asia boasts a staggering 4.78 billion that's a huge difference China alone is a giant in the aviation
world and countries like Japan Indonesia India Saudi Arabia and South Korea aren't far behind now picture the Skies over Asia they're probably buzzing with airplanes right that's because the asia-pacific region has the busiest airspace in the whole world it's like a common Corridor for planes coming and going carrying millions of passengers and tons of cargo despite Asia's massive population and booming economy the route to South America remains elusive instead if you want to travel from one continent to the other you'll likely have to hop through a series of connecting flights zigzagging across other continents along
the way it's a journey that can easily stretch over 24 hours with layovers and transfers adding to the complexity let's first check out some available routes connecting South America and Asia before the co9 pandemic only four Latin American countries had flights to Asia Pacific Cuba Mexico Panama and Brazil together they only had 22 weekly flights to China Japan or South Korea mostly with layovers for example Hanan airlines flies from Beijing to Mexico City with a layover in Tijana similarly China Southern has a route with a layover in Vancouver which is being stopped China Southern Airlines
started a flight from guango to Vancouver to Mexico City in 2017 now they're starting an even longer flight from shenzen to Mexico City without any stops it's longer than their old longest flight to New York on the way back from Mexico City to shenzen there's a quick stop in Tiwana for fuel but passengers can't get off the plane this new service begins on May 11th 2024 Air China also has flights with layovers in Montreal Houston and Madrid to reach Cuba Panama and sou Paulo respectively aom Mexico offers direct flights from Mexico City to Tokyo and
Seoul but that's it and these flights mostly involve Mexico only not South America so why hasn't anyone bridged this Gap in the sky well there are three main reasons that come forward if you delve deeper in it geographical problem economical problem and logistical problem and those are not enough as a fourth addition comes to the environmental problem as well geographically Latin America is the farthest region from Asia espe especially South America in fact South America and Asia are on opposite sides of the earth look at a map and you'll see Argentina and Chile are nearly
opposite Mongolia and China Taiwan aligns with Paraguay the Philippines are across from Brazil and Indonesia is exactly opposite to Colombia and Venezuela if you look for the closest South American country to Asia it's Mexico that's why it's the main gateway between the two regions now Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in the region handling a tremendous amount of air traffic every day then there's sa Pao airport in South America equally busy with passengers flying off to different corners of the continent both these airports are major hubs connecting millions of people every year now think about
how cool it would be if you could fly directly from Heathrow to Sal poo but easier said than done first off the distance between Beijing and Sal Pao is no small feet it's a whopping 10,923 Mi to give you some perspective the current longest commercial flight in the world is from Singapore to New York covering 9,526 mi in about 18 1/2 hours so flying from Beijing to sou Paulo would be like taking that record-breaking flight of 25 hours 45 minutes or stretching it even further now here's where it gets interesting the plane used for the
Singapore to New York flight is an Airbus A3 350 900 with an ultra long range but even that has its limits it can only go up to 9,700 nautical miles without needing to refuel so to fly from Beijing to sou Pao you'd either need a plane that Can Go the Distance without stopping or make a pit stop somewhere along the way to gas up and trust me stopping for fuel adds a whole new layer of cost and complexity to the journey above all flying from Beijing to Sal Pao means crossing over a big chunk of
Russia which isn't exactly known for being budget friendly when it comes to air traffic fees because Airlines have to pay Hefty fees to use Soviet airspace changes in agreements mean Airlines now have to take longer less efficient routes which costs more money for them and makes flights longer for passengers so not only do you have to deal with the long distance and fuel stops but you also have to factor in the Hefty fees just for passing through Russian airspace all these factors combined make flying Direct directly from Heathrow to S Pao a logistical Nightmare and
a costly stunt that's why despite the potential benefits such a flight doesn't exist yet apart from that in the world of Aviation getting from one place to another smoothly involves a lot of behind the-scenes work think about it like planning a big trip you've got to figure out your route make sure you have all the right documents and make sure the places you're going can handle you when you get there that's kind of what Logistics is like for Airlines for starters there's the issue of time zones when it's daytime in one place it might be
nighttime in another then there are the rules that different countries have about flying plus airports can only handle so many planes at once which can cause delays but even if you manage to sort all that out there's still the issue of customs and immigration every country has its own rules and procedures which can slow things down even more it's like going through security at the airport but on a much bigger scale and speaking of airports they need to be equipped to handle Long Haul flights that means they need things like maintenance services refueling stations and
places for passengers to wait between flights however upgrading or building new facilities is expensive and takes a lot of planning which can make Airlines hesitant to open up new routs but here's the thing flying long distances also has a big impact on the environment think about all the fuel it takes to get a plane from one side of the world to the other that means a lot of greenhouse gases are being pumped into the atmosphere which isn't great for the planet so in a way not having direct flights between East Asia and South America could
actually be a good thing they might be looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint and find cleaner ways to travel in the end it's just a balancing act Airlines have to consider a lot of factors when they decide where to fly fly and how to get there and as more people become concerned about the environment they're going to have to think even harder about the choices they make but anyway there's always hope for the future after all can's Airlines managed to pull off a record-breaking flight from New York to Sydney so who knows what
might be possible with a bit more Innovation and determination maybe in the future we will get to see direct flights from Asia to Latin America with all these geographical Financial logistical and environmental issues are taken care of and now it's time for you to share your opinion on this do you think this Gap will be bridged in the future what other Global Connections Fascinate you share your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe for more mindboggling videos on our Channel
