Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN) said on Wednesday that it is looking into establishing possible service routes to Europe by going through China, that is if and when Euro authorities give their seal of approval on the proposal.

Company chief executive Alan Joyce acknowledged though that as of now, China is lagging behind from the US and UK in terms of passenger volume but Qantas is banking on the huge potential of the Asian country's market.

Mr Joyce added that the Chinese government has already signified support on the company's service routes proposal but the Europeans remain as the stumbling block, saying that "it is not the issue with the Chinese, it is actually the Europeans."

He told media personnel covering the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit in Sydney that they are currently in discussions over bilateral traffic rights questions with China and European nations, quickly adding that the Australian government is set to join the talks and "they are obviously part of the ongoing discussions with the Europeans and we are hoping that at some stage that will be facilitated."

Mr Joyce noted that with the expected delivery of Qantas' new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, the airways' planned expansion into the Chinese market should be further realised as he stressed that "the 787 in particular opens up that range and spectrum for routes that we wouldn't see as economic today."

Qantas said that the fresh Dreamliners fleet would be largely utilised by its low-cost subsidiary, Jetstar, in expanding its international operations, which Mr Joyce said is the one strategy, a two-brand strategy of maintaining a full service mainline carrier and a budget airliner, which provides the company a particular edge over its competitors.

He added that Qantas has been seeing remarkable turnovers from its freight services between the US and China so it would be unlikely for the company to dip its fingers too on some middle ground endeavours, calling it "as trying to be all things to all people."

Mr Joyce said that such strategy would end up as a failure enterprise, stressing that "one could end up as road kill if you sit in the middle of the road for too long."