Many airlines operate fifth-freedom routes for a variety of reasons. These are international “tag flights” that operate as an extension of a route from the airline’s home country to another country. The fifth-freedom leg is the onward service to a third country.
It’s not uncommon to see one or two foreign airlines operating a fifth-freedom service on busy international routes like Sydney-Auckland or Bangkok-Hong Kong. But there are a handful of international routes served by as many as six international carriers as fifth-freedom services!
These are the international routes served by the most foreign airlines as fifth-freedom flights…
Harare to Lusaka
There are six airlines serving the route between Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, and the Zambian capital of Lusaka. Of these airlines, none are based in Zimbabwe or Zambia!
Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways all offer services between Harare (HRE) and Lusaka (LUN), with flights available in both directions.
There are also one-way flights available from Harare to Lusaka with Air Botswana and Air Tanzania. These operate as triangle services originating and ending in these airlines’ bases of Gaborone and Dar es Salaam, respectively.
Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires
Five airlines based in North America, Europe and Africa choose to serve both Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires with a single flight.
This allows these airlines to fill seats on the long sector from their home bases to South America with passengers heading to both major cities. It also means they can stop to refuel in Brazil before heading onwards to the Argentinian capital. And they can fill the seats of passengers disembarking in Sao Paulo with paying passengers who want to fly on the busy route between Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires.
Air Canada, British Airways, SWISS, Turkish Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines all sell seats between Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport (GRU) and Ministro Pistarini International Airport (EZE) in Buenos Aires. In fact, foreign carriers make up the vast majority of traffic on this route. But local airlines including Aerolíneas Argentinas, LATAM Airlines and GOL offer regular service from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires’ more convenient “Aeroparque” Airport (AEP).
Qatar Airways also used to serve the GRU-EZE route pre-COVID.
Other fifth-freedom flights into Argentina that can be useful include Emirates’ service from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires, and KLM’s service between Santiago and Buenos Aires. Both of these airlines are Qantas partners, meaning you can use Qantas points to book a seat.
Malé to Colombo
Another international route served by five airlines from third countries is the short hop from the main airport in the Maldives to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
In addition to three daily flights on Oneworld member SriLankan Airlines, the Malé-Colombo route is served by Emirates, flydubai, Turkish Airlines, Gulf Air and Air France.
