Aviation sleuths believe they have cracked the mystery of who chartered a Qantas superjumbo that was tracked crossing the Pacific Ocean from Australia to Brazil and back.

The empty double-decker A380 flew nearly 15 hours non-stop from Sydney to Sao Paulo, where the world’s biggest musician Bad Bunny just wrapped up the Brazil leg of his global tour.

Qantas doesn’t serve Sao Paulo as a usual direct route, meaning the unexpected flight drew the attention of plane-spotters and flight trackers as something out of the ordinary.

It’s widely speculated that the superjumbo was chartered by the Puerto Rican rapper to transport his entire tour and gear from São Paulo to Sydney.

Flightradar24 says the Qantas plane was on the tarmac at São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport for a few hours on Sunday night before turning back to Sydney.

It then flew nonstop for 16½ hours before landing in the NSW capital on Tuesday.

Grammy award-winning Bad Bunny, the headline halftime act at the Super Bowl this month, will perform two shows in Sydney on February 28 and March 1.

He is considered the world’s biggest artist, with the most streams on Spotify and winning album of the year at the 2026 Grammys.

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Simple Flying journalist Paul Hartley wrote that hiring the largest aircraft ever built, with two full-length passenger decks, was “almost unheard of”.

“Fortunately, Qantas has 10 of the superjumbos in its fleet, each able to seat up to 485 passengers, and is no stranger to chartering its aircraft,” he wrote.

“For example, later this month, the airline is chartering its Boeing 787-9 aircraft for five flights to Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport for the NRL rugby league kick-off.”

He estimated the cost of the charter flight at $1.5 million, based on an hourly rate of $40,000 – which includes crew, duty-time planning, airport and handling fees, fuel and catering.

“On Sunday, February 22, the A380 departed from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport at 10.28pm local time as flight QF6043,” Hartley wrote.

“That in itself was a clue, as Qantas flight numbers starting with six are commonly associated with non-scheduled charters and positioning flying.

“The flight was empty, so it was able to fly the full 8350 miles (13,400 kilometres) distance nonstop, logging a 14-hour and 49-minute sector and touching down in São Paulo at 11.18pm local time the same night.

“Once the A380 arrived, it didn’t linger. After only a few hours on the ground, the aircraft turned back towards Australia, boarding Bad Bunny and his entourage and loading all the tour cargo, departing at 5.49am local time on Monday.”

The return flight was reportedly lighter than expected — with just 245 people and 232 tonnes of fuel on board — which meant the plane did not have to take a stop in Auckland, New Zealand.

It arrived in Sydney at 12.25pm local time Tuesday, after a return flight of just under 16½ hours.

“Given its tremendous size, the usage of the A380 for private charters is very rare, but not unheard of,” Hartley said.