Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International) is currently mulling its options with regards to the South American market, deemed by CEO Christopher Luxon to be the "last white spot in the carrier’s network." With the impending withdrawal of Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR, Buenos Aires Jorge Newbery) from Australasia, the whole market has effectively been handed to Oneworld carriers, Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) and LAN Airlines (Santiago de Chile). In its analysis of the airline's options, CAPA speculates that Air New Zealand could have presented an alternative route to South America for its new partner, Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi), with Singapore Changi to South America via Auckland International flights which, in terms of their length and duration, would be more or less comparable to Singapore Airline's existing Singapore - São Paulo Guarulhos via Barcelona El Prat service. It goes on to add that, given that Spain is a more "appealing" intermediate stopover in terms of its Spain-South America market and that New Zealand is geographically on the eastern side of South America, a Singapore - South America via New Zealand service could prove tricky. As such, Air New Zealand is reportedly considering launching its own services to Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini, Lima International and Santiago de Chile among which only Lima has a Star Alliance hub with that of Avianca (Bogotá) subsidiary Trans American Airlines (Lima International). However, as Peru is currently the smallest of the potential South American markets for Air New Zealand with the largest being Argentina, followed by Chile and Brazil, Air Zealand would have to rely entirely on connecting traffic beyond Lima, thereby rendering the Peruvian capital an unlikely choice. In terms of the Brazilian market, CAPA believes that Air New Zealand could target the growing China-Brazil market using its onward connections to China and Hong Kong, but reasons that connections beyond Sao Paulo would be difficult given Brazil's geographic location. Sao Paulo would also present problems alliance-wise given that TAM Linhas Aéreas (São Paulo Congonhas) will switch from Star Alliance to oneworld on March 30. Geographically, Santiago would offer better connectivity options to Air New Zealand if only for LAN Airlines' near total dominance of the market there. When Aerolineas Argetinas withdraws from Sydney Kingsford Smith and Auckland in April, Santiago will become the only market served from Australasia by both LAN and Qantas. As such, CAPA concludes saying the Buenos Aires would likely prove the most logical market for Air New Zealand to enter though it would require support from the Argentinians, not to mention oneworld and Skyteam. "If Air NZ launched Buenos Aires with a codeshare with Aerolineas it would again give Aerolineas access to New Zealand and Australia as well as China. Air NZ could also potentially work with SIA in providing connections between Argentina and Southeast Asia."