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The kangaroo route is a term to denote passenger airline flights between Europe and Australia and New Zealand, via the Eastern Hemisphere. [1] 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 name refers not only to the kangaroo, native to Australia, but also to the fact that the journey was traditionally accomplished with at least two "hops" due to the stopovers, alluding to the kangaroo's means of locomotion.

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 3.6 million passengers travel on the Singapore-Australia sectors alone per year [2], with most transiting on to Europe-bound flights. 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. Given the range of newer Airbus and Boeing 777 models, it is now possible for direct flights between Europe and Australia, with Perth, Western Australia as the key departure/destination point [3]; it remains to be seen whether airlines will take advantage of this possibility.

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 (in December 2004), and giving Qantas the rights to fly from Hong Kong onwards to London in direct competition with Cathay Pacific. Air New Zealand introduced flights from Auckland to London via Hong Kong in October 2006. Air France plans to start flights from Paris to Melbourne and Sydney in mid-2007, though a stopover point has not been announced.

Despite the growing competition from Asian and Middle Eastern carriers, the only airlines offering Kangaroo route flights with same flight number and same aircraft from start to finish are Air New Zealand, British Airways, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic.

The term Kangaroo Route is a trademark owned by Qantas.

Western Hemisphere services between Europe and Australia and New Zealand are sometimes known as the Southern Cross Route. [4]