When artists have big tours, it’s not uncommon to see them travel in private jets, or in some cases, even charter commercial aircraft. After all, a lot of people and a huge amount of equipment has to be moved. However, chartering an Airbus A380 isn’t something you often see… but that’s exactly what has just happened! I first covered this theory yesterday, but it has now been confirmed.
In this post:
Qantas A380 operates intriguing Sao Paulo to Sydney charter flight
On Sunday, February 22, 2026, a Qantas Airbus A380 flew from Sydney (SYD) to Sao Paulo (GRU). Specifically, the 14hr49min flight departed at 10:28PM local time, and landed at 11:18PM local time the same night. It was operated by the A380 with the registration code VH-OQA, and had the flight number QF6043. Qantas typically uses flight numbers in the 6XXX range for ferry flights (so without passengers).
The plane didn’t spend a long time on the ground, and on Monday, February 23, 2026, it turned around after just several hours. The 16hr27min return flight departed at 5:49AM local time, and landed back in Sydney at 12:25PM on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. This journey had the flight number QF308. Qantas typically uses flight numbers in the 3XX range for charter flights.
I’m curious about the staffing for this flight — presumably Qantas had to deadhead a crew to Sao Paulo days earlier to work the return flight, and then the crew that ferried the plane to Sao Paulo will have to deadhead back to Sydney on a separate flight.
Yes, Bad Bunny chartered this Qantas A380 for his crew
It’s not every day that you see an Airbus A380 chartered for an ultra long haul flight, so it can be fun to speculate as to what’s going on.
Specifically, American superstar Bad Bunny (yes, Puerto Rico is part of the United States, who knew?!) is currently on his “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” world tour. He performed on February 21, 2026, in Sao Paulo, and his next show is on February 28, 2026, in Sydney.
Obviously tour logistics are incredibly complicated, in terms of the number of people and the amount of equipment that has to be moved between show locations. While efforts are typically made to minimize distances between show locations, moving between Brazil and Australia is quite a trek. There are two challenges that make this particularly complicated:
- There are no nonstop regularly scheduled flights between the two countries, which limits options
- The journey between Brazil and Australia is one of the most remote air routes in the world, and there are a limited number of aircraft that can operate it (in terms of range needed, ETOPS requirements, etc.)
Given that the Bad Bunny tour involves moving a lot of people and a lot of equipment, it very much tracks that this charter flight between the two countries would be for that purpose. This has now been confirmed by AFR, with the return flight reportedly having 223 passengers and 22 crew members (thanks to Adele for flagging this). Qantas’ Airbus A380s are equipped with 485 seats, including 14 first class seats, 70 business class seats, 60 premium economy seats, and 341 economy seats.
It goes without saying that this is a massive expense. We’re talking about chartering an A380 for 30+ hours of flying. I have to imagine that this costs north of a million bucks, when all is said and done. It’s pretty wild that there are actually only two shows in Sydney, before the tour continues to Tokyo, which is once again a distance away. So that’s quite a bit in expenses that has to be allocated to those two performances.
Bottom line
A Qantas Airbus A380 has just operated a charter flight from Sao Paulo to Sydney, hours after having arrived in Sao Paulo. The purpose of this charter has now been confirmed, and it’s what most of us expected — it’s for Bad Bunny and his crew, as he’s on a big tour. Given the number of people who had to be moved between the two cities, plus the lack of commercial flights, I guess the A380 was the best option!
What do you make of this Qantas A380 charter flight?
He makes 8-10 million per concert so...
I went to his concert in Sao Paulo Saturday the 21st, he flew to GRU from Buenos Aires on a chartered Bombardier. So cool to see he got a Qantas A380 to trek to Sydney! Also wonder when they will open direct flights between Sydney and Sao Paulo....
@Schar,
QF has repeatedly included Brazil on it's plans for ultra global long-haul Project Sunrise flights, once they receive their new A350-1000ULR aircraft with the additional centre tank. They are the very first carrier to order and take this iteration of the A350-1000ULR. Deliveries should begin late 2026 / early 2027.
However, Qantas will first prioritize SYD and MEL to non-stop JFK and LHR in 2027 as their first commercial destinations. I would suggest...
@Schar,
QF has repeatedly included Brazil on it's plans for ultra global long-haul Project Sunrise flights, once they receive their new A350-1000ULR aircraft with the additional centre tank. They are the very first carrier to order and take this iteration of the A350-1000ULR. Deliveries should begin late 2026 / early 2027.
However, Qantas will first prioritize SYD and MEL to non-stop JFK and LHR in 2027 as their first commercial destinations. I would suggest that *other* destinations in the Project Sunrise program, such as CPT and GRU / GIG would follow - but at a slower rate of implementation. Think somewhere around the early 2030's for these latter destinations.
The charter that is being discussed here, has benefits for QF, as well as Bad Bunny and AC/DC - in that it gives QF additional experience in operating to a new port (GRU) without compromising their existing commercial route plans. Always an 'add' when it can be combined with a revenue positive charter.
There have been thought bubbles from Qantas (not sure how 'official') about flights to Brazil with their Project Sunrise ULR A350 aircraft. Usually about Rio rather than São Paulo.
São Paulo is the New York of South America. It would be moronic to start a service to Rio de Janeiro over SP. São Paulo is where the big money is.
Alright, let's get this straight boys and girls. I was there. For the whole 20+ hour ordeal.
*Benito is American, PR is an American territory
*Yes, whole plane for 240people. No cargo, those are separate planes.
*About 80 went with 180 chairs, everyone else had whole rows to spread out on with Quantas pajamas and blankets.
*Comfort was important to the boss for the crew. Quantas had some amazing dinner choices!!
Alright, let's get this straight boys and girls. I was there. For the whole 20+ hour ordeal.
*Benito is American, PR is an American territory
*Yes, whole plane for 240people. No cargo, those are separate planes.
*About 80 went with 180 chairs, everyone else had whole rows to spread out on with Quantas pajamas and blankets.
*Comfort was important to the boss for the crew. Quantas had some amazing dinner choices!!
*The Quantas crew was even more amazing. Thank you all very much!!
*Yes there was liquor, there was little sleep to be had after hour 12.
*We were supposed to stop in AKL, but with half the capacity aboard we had enough fuel to make it straight GRU > SYD.
*AC/DC was not part of this in any way. They stayed at the same hotel we did in Sao Paolo and they were operational while we were playing. So nothing about that.
You were there for the whole 20+ hour ordeal.
And you can't even get the airline name right?
Well I'm glad you could focus on the airline name than any of the other details I provided that you weren't going to get anywhere else.
But yeah the red kangaro bird company plane was good.
There you go, you may now complain about that too.
Ha, glad you could focus on that part instead of any other detail that you'd never find out about. You're the one that would ruin it for everyone else.
@Bob,
1. Please learn how to spell. QANTAS, not "QUANTAS".
At 105 years of operation, they are one of the world's oldest carriers.
2. AC/DC *was* part of the charter(s). Outward leg SYD-GRU.
if you were onboard the return sector (GRU-SYD) I'm glad that you are impressed by the Qantas service model, meals, seating and goodies. Welcome to SYD.
It’s “QANTAS” - Queensland And Northern Territory Air Service.
I see both sides of this disagreement. On the one hand, of course, Puerto Rico is part of the United States and Spanish is spoken there. Also, the rest of the United States has a large Hispanic population all speaking Spanish. To include this population in the Super Bowl halftime show is to be applauded. We need to be inclusive of Spanish speakers. However, to have a halftime show only in Spanish is to exclude...
I see both sides of this disagreement. On the one hand, of course, Puerto Rico is part of the United States and Spanish is spoken there. Also, the rest of the United States has a large Hispanic population all speaking Spanish. To include this population in the Super Bowl halftime show is to be applauded. We need to be inclusive of Spanish speakers. However, to have a halftime show only in Spanish is to exclude millions of Americans, who only speak English. We need to be inclusive of that group as well. Perhaps a better halftime show, would have had some songs sung in Spanish and some in English. Even better, might be a song where different parts of the song were sung in multiple different language languages, French, Arabic, Polish, etc. In this time of political polarization., We need to do everything we can do to come together and respect each other.
Apple music is the sponsor of the halftime show. They selected the best selling music artist of the year to perform. When you bring the bucks, you too can select who you want.
So is bad bunny not getting fined and deported yet?
Someone flew in with a good bunny and got deported along with $9,000,000 biohazard fine and $2,000,000 for failure to declare a bunny.
Biosecurity is doing a bad job.
It's a shame Qantas didn't sell space on the outbound (as far as we can tell). Would've been a cool award leg to claim!
Reports are that the outbound carried a load of AC⚡️DC concert freight, so I’m sure they didn’t need to waste range accommodating passengers & checked baggage.
It's all tax deductible. :-)
Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
As some people seem to think that Sir Paul McCartney and Bryan Adams are “American”, I claim New England as just another English county. Furthermore, everyone in the world who speaks English, is to be expected to pay homage to King Charles and the Union Flag once again.
The Empire is back!
I am your father.
Look, if you’re going to stan a 20-something pop boy, I’d rather it be the enigmatic Bad Bunny that your former crush Sean Mendes, who is utterly unremarkable.
Remember the backlash he got after that disastrous Nick Jonas post years ago? It was on an epic scale. And well deserved too, I might add. You'd think he would have learned his lesson by now. I had no idea he was hot for Sean Mendes too. And now with this oddball Sad Bunny, all I can say is Ben's bad musical taste is deep-rooted and incurable.
Maybe a one way charter back to Mexico for he and his entire familia.
Bravo! A good point!
MAGA stupidity at its finest.
He is not Mexican; he is an American citizen. He was born an American citizen
maga intelligence on display, typical levels. lol
Dave you ignorant cunt
Where are the climate change protestors?
I asked for some estimate on the CO2 impact for this indulgence. It's 374 tons of fuel roundtrip. This flight is equivalent to 3.1 million ICE car miles, or the footprint of 310 people for an entire year.
It's certainly gonna be a better emissions CPP than a private jet, even before you figure in equipment transport
Should have gone by ship....no wait. They're filthy too.
Qantas has a spare 380 bouncing around atm.
One is due to operate another charter in a few weeks, from Nagoya to London.
surprised they chartered an A380 for just 223 pax. could've done it in a 77W or A359/K or something and had more cargo space!
Not again Ben …. :-(
Something to do with "av-geek"?
More looks like a kind of tabloid blogging.
Who cares?
Who is "Bad Bunny"?
https://www.google.com/
Good point, thank you! Wow, he is quite "famous". Sorry for my bad knowledge.
Is he an av-geek as Mr. Ben?
Some interesting comments, some passing weird. There are two separate 'stories' here. 1) singer charters an aeroplane, and 2) A-380 flies interesting long charter flight. This is a travel and aviation blog, and Ben covers topics across both parts of that subject matter field. I don't understand why some people whine when he covers something that falls in part of that range of topics that they don't care about. There are people who are interested...
Some interesting comments, some passing weird. There are two separate 'stories' here. 1) singer charters an aeroplane, and 2) A-380 flies interesting long charter flight. This is a travel and aviation blog, and Ben covers topics across both parts of that subject matter field. I don't understand why some people whine when he covers something that falls in part of that range of topics that they don't care about. There are people who are interested in unusual aviation reports like this, whether it's because it's about an A-380, because it's Qantas, because it's an 'exotic' sounding flight between far away places (for some folks), or just because.
Okay, we can go back to whether you get half or one point on grocery spend with a First National Bank of Bayou County Visa card. (Which could obviously be in any state except Louisiana.)
Hello Mike C,
"Okay, we can go back to whether you get half or one point on grocery spend with a First National Bank of Bayou County Visa card. (Which could obviously be in any state except Louisiana.)
Sorry, I don't understand what are you taking about?
Why we are talking here about a First National Bank or Bayou County Visa card?
Mr. Ben is making money with the credit card...
Hello Mike C,
"Okay, we can go back to whether you get half or one point on grocery spend with a First National Bank of Bayou County Visa card. (Which could obviously be in any state except Louisiana.)
Sorry, I don't understand what are you taking about?
Why we are talking here about a First National Bank or Bayou County Visa card?
Mr. Ben is making money with the credit card related material. Good for him, but totally uninteresting to all readers outside of NA.
"This is a travel and aviation blog, and Ben covers topics across both parts of that subject matter field."
Perfectly agree, you are right! Stick on this sentence, Mr. Ben, and try to be a constant an a highly professional one. Not like a capricious "diva" in many cases.
Who cares about so many credit cards in Mr. Ben's pocket?
It looks so pathetic!
A TRAVEL AND AVIATION BLOG, NOTHING ELSE!
LOL.
The Australian Financial Review has now filed a story confirming that Bad Bunny and an entourage/crew of around 245 people (!) did indeed charter this flight. https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/bad-bunny-charters-qantas-a380-to-jet-in-from-sao-paulo-20260224-p5o50b
I spoke with Qantas this morning. They confirmed the flight was a charter and declined to release the passenger details. However, expect a further update soon.
Hi Lucky , Very interesting blog . QF308 has bypassed AKL and is landing in SYD in 42 minutes .
Flight time 16 Hours 22 minutes .
Fascinating flight path down to South American Coast then across the Pacific to South of NZ. If it had landed in AKL there would have been 4 A380's on the ground , just like the Fifth freedom flights Emirates used to run from Aus .
'Singer' charters a plane. Earth-shattering.
Come back CC ads! All is forgiven!!
There are rumors as well that the plane brought all the equipment for the upcoming 3 AC/DC concerts in São Paulo. They will also perform once in Buenos Aires, once in Santiago and 3 times in Mexico City.
It was speculated that the inbound flight also ferried equipaments for AC DC concert, that is going to take place in Sao Paulo.
His entourage is reportedly 80 people. But does he sell tickets, like Trump, to media reporters who sit in the back?
Why would the second crew have to fly separately? As long as they can rest in First Class, on the way over, aren't they legal for a charter flight?
The Australian venue has a capacity of about 23,500. Tickets are selling in the range of $130 to $770 -- I think that's...
His entourage is reportedly 80 people. But does he sell tickets, like Trump, to media reporters who sit in the back?
Why would the second crew have to fly separately? As long as they can rest in First Class, on the way over, aren't they legal for a charter flight?
The Australian venue has a capacity of about 23,500. Tickets are selling in the range of $130 to $770 -- I think that's Australian dollars, so discount by a third. So the ticket sales cover the cost, and the publicity is priceless. I wonder if they're going to add a third date; they don't have to be in Tokyo until March 7.
The Australian Fin Review (who just confirmed he is the charter client) are reporting an entourage size of 245 ppl.
Now THAT's one flight I'd like to sneak on ;)
Well...the real leader of the US needs a plane doesn't he?
At least he pays for it.
Too bad he didn't go with Global Airlines - best first class ever and the plane is available (AFAIK)!
Incredible! I don't know how I would be able to live without this important news regarding Bad Bunny flying on an airplane! Truly groundbreaking!
You should talk to customer service and ask for a refund.
Have you seen his assets? He needs all the extra room! ;)
That aside, I wonder if you can ask the airline to deposit all eligible miles to your frequent flyer account for a charter flight like this. That would put you squarely in the lifetime super platinum diamond solitaire club, surely?
A post titled “Did Bad Bunny Charter A Qantas Airbus A380 For A Flight On His World Tour?!” but doesn’t answer the question…
He sings in Spanish and that makes me angry. Why can't we just have good old fashioned American singers like Bryan Adams or Paul McCartney?!
LOL!!!!
Well played, Jerry. Well played indeed.
Yet @TravellinWilly, you seem to be the only commenter so far who 'got it'. I'm more disappointed than surprised, unfortunately.
Since when were Paul MaCartney or Bryan Adam’s “American singers”? You have to be winding up the proletariat, yes Jerry?
Whoosh.......
Bryan Adam’s is obviously Canadian which also makes him american.
Horlicks! Dan, you must be drunk ….
Perhaps you missed the Superbowl show where the performer made that point. American is not exclusively the domain of US citizens
Dudd, relax and take a xanax. If that makes you angry, seek help.
It's questionable that he sings in Spanish - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uL4DRR4V_BA
So, our opera singers should only sing in English?
So Jerry, at least eleven other commentators are as dense as you are. ‘Pigs poop’ and ‘thick as’ comes to mind …. poor uneducated numpties.
GRU-SYD is about 200nm shorter than DFW-SYD which the a380 has done for years, are the winds that much worse on the route or is there some other likely reason they have to stop in AKL on the way back?
Ironic part is Bad Bunny himself would clearly rather be labeled as a Puerto Rican than an American. But agendas, I guess.
Puerto Ricans are Americans
lol - Can you read English? Nobody said they weren’t! Nor did anyone say the two labels weren’t compatible. All I said was it’s very clear Bad Bunny would prefer one label over the other.
Only in your mind are those two labels mutually incompatible.
Ironic part that I bet it doesn't bother you at all that a native Texan would clearly rather be labeled as Texan rather than American. But double standards, I guess.
Seriously, does anyone really care?
Clearly some do. Also, let’s allow actual Aero (Diamond) to speak for himself.
Why is that then 1990Bot?
When you stop guesting it perhaps others might follow your example too, yes?
*beep boop*
Yes, we do. Get over it.
Surprised he didn’t use 80k aeroplan miles to fly gru/jnb/perth Sydney on south African airways and virgin! I’ve been wanting to do this trip for ages!! :)
Yes, how exciting for the “American superstar”