The Southern Cross Route is the name given to the commercial passenger air route connecting Australia and the United Kingdom via the United States. The term was coined by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines in 1949 to refer to its new trans-pacific route from Australia to North America. The name was chosen by BCPA in honour of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's historic 1928 flight in the aircraft Southern Cross.
In 1954, Qantas acquired BCPA and expanded the term's definition as it also expanded the route, even trademarking it for a number of years, as the official name of its air routes connecting Australia and the United Kingdom via the United States. Qantas would go on to pair up the Southern Cross route with its existing famous counterpart route the "Kangaroo Route" connecting Australia and the United Kingdom via the Eastern Hemisphere to form its newly titled "Round the World" service.
While the "Southern Cross Route" term and route was originated by BCPA and continues to be used as the official term by Qantas, it is often genericised by the media and other operators to refer to all flights between Australia and the United Kingdom via North America. Many airlines have operated the Australia to UK route via North America over the years; a notable first operator was Pan Am who received rights as part of the same air agreements that gave Qantas rights to operate across the United States.
there are four airlines operating the Southern Cross route (with seasonal destinations in italics):