I was thinking, of the western airlines is BA the only airline to fly to Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia. Excluding code share.

No US airline flies to Africa. Australia only sees BA and Lauda-Austrian (I think). Qantas did serve South America and South Africa which would qualify them, but do they still??

Quite a shock to me when I thought about it, sure there's business rational but it seems kinda sad.

Britannia Airways of the UK nearly do:

Europe: Loads of places
North America: Orlando & Others
South America: none yet...
Asia: Phuket, Goa
Africa: Banjul, Mombasa
Australasia: Melbourne / Adelaide / Auckland

Sadly the Australia / New Zealand flying no longer takes place, but at one time we really did fly to almost all continents (and our biggest a/c is the 763!).

I know that Air 2000 fly to Recife (Brazil) with the 763 on a seasonal basis, but they also don't fly to Australia. Close though...

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) do have flights to all continents except Antartica! They have flights to South America, North America, Australiasia, Europe, Africa and of course Asia! Last week, they just resumed their flights from Kuala Lumpur to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

South African Airways flies to North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and, of course, Africa.

QANTAS has flights to all continents, including Antarctic sightseeing flights (they don't land, but still, you can consider them to be flights "to" Antarctica).

Doesn't Virgin go to every continent (or most)?

I do not think Virgin goes to South America.

Virgin does not fly to any South American city.
Chepos

Well guys, if we are strictly talking about "continents", there is no difference between South America and North America. It is one and the same continent, so Virgin flies to all continents, as well as many other airlines, I'm sure.

Air Canada is close. Just no flights to Africa.

CX340 - I am not so sure that South America and North America are the same continent (perhaps a teacher on here could help us out). I admit I may be wrong but I think I reacll learning in school the seven continents (teacher help here) were: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Antartica, Australia and Africa. Please grade this quizz some geography teacher.

Lets not forget Korean Air. They fly to both Sao Paulo and Cairo, in addition to there flights to North America, Europe, Asia, Australasia

Air France has to be on the list

re: `no US airlines to Africa' aren't there any to Cairo anymore?

Delta serves Cairo about three times weekly.

Olympic flies to all continents (not SOUTH America anymore). BA and Lauda aren't the only European airlines in Oceania: Olympic flies from ATH to Sydney and Melbourne. It was the first airline to fly to all 5 continents a few decades ago. Besides their slogan in the 70s and 80s used to be "The airline of the 5 continents".
Thanx.

North America and South America = two continents.

Air France don't fly to Australia.

Delta have stopped flying to Cairo.

North and South America is 1 continent. There are 5 inhabited continents on THIS planet: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Oceania.

AF flies to Tahiti and Nouméa, so they fly to the 5 continents...

In this side of the world they teach us that South and North America are 2 separate continents. They are not the same continent.
Chepos

Virgon do not fly to Australia - they have a subsidiary airline (Virgin Blue) flying domestically in Australia, but there are not Virgin flights operating internationally out of Australia (apart from code-shares, which was specifically excluded).

Dave

Some of you have not been listening to your geography teachers.

It is utter ignorance to say that North and South America are "1 continent"-utter rubbish!!

The Continent of North America is separated by the isthmus of Panama. North and South America are not 'continous land masses', therefore they are NOT one and the same.

I just can't beleive people think North & South America are 1-sheesh, where did you get your education!!!?

Continent:

"one of the larger continuous masses of land, namely, (1) Asia,
(2) Africa,
(3) North America,
(4) South America,
(5) Antarctica,
(6) Europe,
and (7) Australia, listed in order of size.

(Europe and Asia are sometimes considered a single continent, Eurasia.)"

Source: Encyclopædia Britannica

Well even if we have not decided what airlines fly all over the place, we are at least getting a geography lesson.

QANTAS is the only airline which flies to all 7 continents, as Hawkeye mentioned above.

I do find it funny that some people will say that North America and South America are 1 continent called America, yet they say that Europe and Asia are separate continents...last time I checked Europe and Asia were joined and hence should also be 1 continent called Eurasia. Right?

Strictly geographically there are these continents:

1. Eurasia
2. Greenland
3. America
4. Antartica
5. Australia
6. Africa (Africa was made own continent artificially by Suez channel)

Politically:

1. Europe
2. Asia
3. Africa
4. Australia
5. Latin America
6. North America

Now choose about which group are we talking. Politic or geographic.

Europe and Asia are on different "plates" that just happen to be pressed together.

Cedarjet,
The question is not: ''which airline has scheduled flts?"
That's why I count charters too...  
Here are some pictures from the 57 of the database with AF planes in Australia:

View Large View Medium

Photo © Frank Schaefer


View Large View Medium

Photo © Brian Wilkes


View Large View Medium

Photo © Jason Milligan

And Ryanair is not saying Australia, but "Australasia". And here, I can count the flts to New Caledonia and Polynesia.  

When I lived in Europe we were always taught that there is a North- and a South-American continent. When I moved to the US I was taught exactly the opposite.

JvW

So, does AF offer domestic flights flights to all continents? Asia?

About the continent thing: everybody knows there are five inhabited continents plus Antarctica. If there are "North America" and "South America" there must be "America", right? Ever heard of the concept of a subcontinent? Everybody arguing North and South America are different continents should call India a seperate continent too.

Daniel 

Cx340: If you don't count the Panama channel, which is made by man, you're right. But then you also have to exclude the Suez channel and the makes Europe, Asia and Africa one continent.

/SK A340

What about LH? Do they not fly to Austrailia? If not I am a bit surprised.

Ok, lets try again.

North and South America are not 'CONTINUOUS LAND MASSES' because they are separated by the ISTHMUS of PANAMA.

This is NOT the same as the PANAMA CANAL. An ISTHMUS is a naturally formed feature, and it is the presence of the Panama isthmus that makes North & South America both Geographically and Politically separate continents.

As there is no such isthmus separating Europe from Asia, a case could be made for calling both '1 continent'; in most cases, we would agree to call them separate continents, divided perhaps by the Urals/Black Sea and maybe even Istanbul!

Asia is indeed made up of 2 tectonic plates, these are the EURASIAN PLATE and the INDIAN plate, the latter having collided with the former many millions of years ago, then buckling to form the Himalaya, which are still rising.

I study Geography at University, and my tutor has just assured me that I am right to argue the case above; if American education is teaching you the opposite, I cannot understand this; perhaps write to National Geographic to release you from such heretical theories!!

UALPHLCS, Lufthansa no longer flies to Australia, it used to, long ago, but not anymore, I can´t remember the date exactly.
BA, Air France, are the only European airlines flying all continents now, KLM stopped their AMS-SYD route in 2000 and so did Alitalia
Almost all major Asian airlines fly all continents and not a single american airline does.

"Continous land masses" is not an appropriate definition of "continent" from my point of view. IF that was the case, Japan wouldn't be considered part of Asia, Madagascar of Africa, or the UK of Europe(well, maybe this is the case, considering some threads in the no-av forum  ). A "continent" is a political idea, more than anything. In Mexico they teach us that there are 4 big "landmasses": American, Euro-Asiatican-African, Australian and Antartica. This appeals to the notion of "continous land masses" and does not consider that a tiny man-made strip of water made in the desert(Suez) or swampy terrain(Panama) divide land masses. They also teach us that there are 6 continents: America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania(Australia, NZ, Polinesia, and little islands around there) and Antartica. This has to be a political idea, because maps show us rather artificial boundaries for Europe or Oceania. In 5th grade of elementary school a fellow student asked to the teacher: "¿So where does Asia ends and Europe begins?" and the teacher answered: "roughly speaking, about the Ural mountains", which didn't sound very convincing to the young audience. That boundary is political as is North and South America, which isn't very useful; North America, Latin America and Carribean(non-spanish speaking) is a far more useful division.

When the continent that we now know as "America" (north or south regardless) was named back in the 16th century in honor of Mr. Americo Vespucio, who explored the boundaries of most of the continent, no one thought of a division between landmasses of North and South America. The continent was named "America" as a whole. Not the US, not South America, the WHOLE CONTINENT.

I understand that for political (and probably identification and learning) reasons, the continent is divided in north and south, latin and north america, etc. and I have nothing against that, but historically there was no division.

Furthermore, if we are speaking about landmassess, then what would we consider the Caribbean Islands. The continent of Caribbea? I think we all now they are part of the American continent, and they don't belong to the same landmass. So in the same line of thinking, why should we divide north and south america, if not for political reasons?

I cannot believe the level of ignorance being shown here.....by the way, recent evidence shows America was NOT named after Vespucci, and by the way Cx, the South American landmass was not discovered until around 1500 by Cabral....so America was not used to name the southern landmass.

What is your point with the Caribbean? They are NOT part of the North American landmass....they are islands, separated by water...they are not landmasses.....

I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I just can't beleive people haven't got these facts straight yet (they are usually taught at the age of 10)....

Someone told me that Delta fly to Africa!

DC-10

It doesn't matter how YOU choose to (re)define the term continent.

It doesn't matter if YOU don't think the current deffinition makes sense.

The Continents are defined as:

-North America
-South America
-Europe
-Asia
-Australasia
-Antarctica

If you don't find the deffinition of a "continent" logical, write to your geographic society and complain. But the word has an agreed upon deffinition, consisting of the above land areas.

AOM used to have flights to all 6 continents
North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australasia ( including Australia ) and europe.

I think lufthansa has some scheduled flights to Australia, doesn't it ? Alitalia used to go to Sydney, but i think they dropped the service ( i'm not sure though )

Folks, there is a difference between a continent and a landmass. They are each distinct geological termns.

North and South America are two separate continents, as are Europe and Asia. But North and South America together form a landmass, as do Europe and Asia.

Are we next going to argue that Australia is a Island?

A continent is defined as a large unbroken land mass completely surrounded by water, although in some cases continents are (or were in part) connected by land bridges. The seven continents are North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. The island groups in the Pacific are often called Oceania but this name does not imply that scientists consider them the remains of a continent.

Political considerations have often overridden geographical facts when it came to naming continents. Geographically, Europe, including the British Isles, is a large western peninsula of the continent of Asia; and many geographers, when referring to Europe and Asia, speak of the Eurasian continent. But traditionally, Europe is counted as a separate continent, with the Ural and the Caucasus mountains forming the line of demarcation between Europe and Asia. To the south of Europe, Asia has an odd-shaped peninsula jutting westward, which has a large number of political subdivisions. The northern section is taken up by Turkey; to the south of Turkey there are Syria, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and a number of smaller Arab countries. All these are part of Asia. Traditionally, the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean is also considered to be part of Asia.

Civil aviation forum has turned into the Geography forum! 

[email protected]

Nothing wrong with that, the two are interrelated!! Sorry to lose my temper, I don't really care what you guys term as a continent or a land-mass, each one to his own-argument is good!

Capt. Picard,

1.- America was not named after AMERICO Vespucci. . .then after who? Why is it named America then?? Where is your evidence?

2.- Then the caribbean islands are part of what? A separate continent? They are not in the same landmass as North or South America, are they? Yet everybody knows they are part of the American continent, South American continent if it makes you more confortable. . .

If you read my post correctly, you will see that I said the continent was named America back in the 16th century i.e. 1500-1600. The first "discoverer" of South America, if we can call him that, was non other than Cristopher Columbus, who on his third trip to the American continent (1498-1500), set foot on what is now called Venezuela (who was named like that by suggestion of Vespucci, a few years later, after going into the Bay of Maracaibo and comparing it to Venice). Check in any source, and you will see. Pedro Alvarez Cabral, a portuguese sailor, discovered what we now know as Brazil in 1501.

Mr. Vespucci (who was his Italian name, but later changed to Vespucio after he became of Spanish nationality), made several voyages to the New World around the same time as Mr. Cabral, and it was him who realized, after arriving in Patagonia in 1501, close to the straight that would later be called the Magellan Straight in the southern tip of what is now Argentina and Chile, that Columbus had discovered a new continent, and baptised such new continent as the "Mundus Novus", or New World. Years after that, a german named Martin Waldseemüller suggested that the new continent be named America in honor of Mr. Vespucci, and reportedly made the first map of the New World with the name America in 1507. If you see the map, you will see a rough map of South America with the name America on it. The suggestion was obviously accepted.

Anyway, for the rest of you guys, I guess it makes really no difference how we call it. I agree that is better to difference North from South America, for whatever reasons, and because they are clearly distinguishable from each other in aspects additional to geographical differences, irrespective of historical facts. I wasn't meaning to start a controversy with all of this, so I'm sorry if I did, but I had to clarify some facts because some people "cannot believe the level of ignorance being shown here". Capt. Picard, I am not trying to offend you in any way. I'm just saying get your facts straight before you type something.

Sorry, but I've always been taught (and I've always heard) that there are 7 continents (as the encyclopedia defines them). There's nothing political about it!

Yes, Australia is a continent (There is no such continent as "Australasia")

Yes, North and South America are 2 distinct continents (I defy ANYONE in here to find a citation where North and South America is referred to as a single continent).

Yes, Europe is a separate continent from Asia (There is no such continent as Eurasia).

Anyway, at least this thread made me laugh!  

Cx, you are right on those details, and I apologise for denying them; however, I don't agree on the point of the Caribbean being part of the North American continent-but who cares really? The jury is still out on Vespucci, there was an interesting article in the Guardian as to the real person from whom it was named-I will find it later, too tired at this time to look.

As far as historical facts go, you could argue for ever, there is never any way any of us will know for sure-take for instance, the fact that some scholars claim America was in fact discovered by the Vikings.....or by the Polynesians....and then those who argue that Christopher 'truly' discovered America, because he had calculated its location beforehand, rather than just stumbling across unknown territory, which is what some beleive the Vikings did.

It's quite interesting to argue over the whole issue of discoveries, but silly to get emotional about who is right or wrong...as I did above...and for that, I apologise.

Anyway, back to the present....and it is no surprise that BA and AF serve most continents, given their past empires.

Cheers

Honestly guys, this 7 continent thing is new to me. In Mexico(and maybe in all of Latin America and even Spain and Portugal) they teach us that America is one continent. Let's accept the 7 continent division. Are Guatemala, Honduras, etc. in the continent named North America? Is Cuba in North America? Where does North America ends? In the Panama Canal? So, with the Panama Canal a new continent was created?

Argh

7 Continents......what the hell is wrong with you people

North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Australia and Oceania, Antarctica and Africa......

LOOK AT AN ATLAS DANG IT!

Swissair had and swiss has all but the land downunder. (there were occasional swissair charters down there though.)