Qantas Airways CEO Alan Joyce says the airline group hopes to fly from Australia to Europe via China one day and eventually operate from numerous hubs in Asia, if authorities allow, Jordan Chong of AAP.

Joyce said China was behind the US and UK in terms of passenger volumes but there was plenty of potential in that market.

While Chinese authorities had given approval for such flights to take place, Joyce said European authorities had not.

"There's traffic rights on the Chinese's bilateral to fly from China to Europe, the issue is that on the European bilateral there isn't those rights," Joyce told reporters on the sidelines of the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit in Sydney on Wednesday.

"The Australian government has that on the agenda, they are obviously part of the ongoing discussions with the Europeans and we are hoping that at some stage that will be facilitated."

Joyce said the arrival of the new Boeing 787 aircraft, dubbed "Dreamliner", would help facilitate Qantas's expansion into the Chinese market.

"The 787 in particular opens up that range and spectrum for routes that we wouldn't see as economic today," Joyce told conference delegates in his speech.

He said Qantas supported the opening of aviation routes but that it had to occur at an "even pace".

"Carriers have been given very good traffic rights in Australia, a huge amount of flexibility," Joyce said.

"But there are restrictions still on what Qantas can do in terms of markets that we would like to serve and this is a great example of that."

The Qantas group is due to take delivery of its first 787 in mid-2012 and it will be used by Jetstar to expand its international operations.

Production of the 787 is more than two years behind schedule and has been troubled by persistent delays.

Joyce said feedback from Boeing suggested the testing and certification program for the 787 was progressing well.

Qantas's low-cost offshoot Jetstar announced last month it will base two Airbus A330-200s in Singapore next year for direct flights between the city-state and Melbourne and Auckland.

Jetstar also has a base in Vietnam through its Jetstar Pacific venture and Joyce said the Qantas group would eventually have numerous hubs in Asia, helped by a common aviation market such as the one in Europe.

He said discussions with the Fijian government about the sale of Qantas's stake in Air Pacific were continuing.

He said there was no plan for the sale of any of Qantas's freight assets or the frequent flyer program.

©2010AAP