At first I wasn't even sure if any airlines flew southern Pacific great circle route flights, but it looks like Qantas ([QFA27](http://flightaware.com/live/flight/QFA27/history/20140111/0150Z/YSSY/SCEL)) operates a flight between Sydney and Santiago, Chile.

For northern Pacific greate circle routes, you are flying near Canada/Alaska and then Russia for most of the flight, so you have some airports you could potentially divert to if an emergency arose. I've search online for more details about how this works for these flight, but haven't had much luck finding information.

Are there any point on the southern Pacific great circle route for flights to divert to? Or is there not really any backup plan if something goes wrong? Are there specific requirements that must be met for an aircraft to fly this route?