A world-first air route is planned to link South America and Asia, with Perth the critical hub linking the two big travel markets.

The fastest route is via the South Pole but a stop in Perth would be needed for fuel, creating exciting stopover tourism potential.

Argentine airline Norwegian Air Argentina has applied and been given approval for the Buenos Aires to Perth route, and is applying for rights to Singapore, while Airbus and Boeing have done studies on how the route would be accomplished.

China Southern, Singapore Airlines, and Qantas also have rights to fly the route.

Last week in Perth, the Argentine Chamber of Commerce’s Australia executive director, Diego Berazategui, presented the initiative to key WA industry representatives and Argentina’s ambassador to Australia, Hugo Gobbi.

“The study shows that a trans-polar flight between Buenos Aires and Perth would take less than 15 hours and would position Perth as a great midpoint destination for international travellers between Asia and Latin America,” Mr Berazategui said.

“One of the points highlighted in the discussion was that Perth would significantly benefit by attracting ‘in-transit’ passengers — a new wave of visitors from both Asia and Latin America.

“This could have a major impact on the number of people visiting Perth and should be considered an important part of the WA Asian Engagement Strategy.”

Mr Gobbi said that the route “would be a real game changer for both Argentina and Australia”.

The Airbus A350 and Boeing’s 787 and 777 are all capable of operating the route. They would not fly over the South Pole but around Antarctica taking advantage of the winds which circle that continent.

From Buenos Aires the flight would travel south-east well below Cape Town and on to Perth. The return flight would head again south-east over Tasmania past New Zealand and on to South America.

Norwegian Air Argentina, which has just started operations, is a division of Norwegian, an established European low-cost airline.

It expanded into long-haul operations in 2013 and now serves 22 international destinations with Boeing 787s, offering a Dublin to New York one-way flight for €99 ($155). The airline has 18 more 787-9s on order.