Qantas
announced a new global partnership with Emirates that in April 2013 would
supplant the Australian carrier's long-standing arrangement with British
Airways.
BA,
now part of International Airlines Group, and Qantas established their joint
business in 1995 to link commercial operations between the United Kingdom and
Australia. "The world has changed since 1995 when the joint business
started," according to IAG chief executive Willie Walsh. "This is a
small part of our overall network and this move fits in with changes in our
global strategy. Asia has become a key market focus for IAG, and we're talking
to a number of airlines about alternative options for us."
Qantas
chief executive Alan Joyce added that during "the past 17 years the joint
business with British Airways has been central to the Qantas network. However,
global operating conditions have changed and partnership with Emirates is the right
strategy for Qantas." The Australian carrier's long-haul network of late
has fallen on hard times, and its international turnaround plan, partially unveiled
a year ago, includes Asia as a focal point.
Qantas
intends to remain a committed member of the Oneworld alliance that it
co-founded with BA—maintaining bilateral codeshares with BA, Lan and South
African Airways—and "will continue our joint business with American Airlines on flights across the Pacific."
Emirates,
meanwhile, is one of the largest commercial carriers in the world not
affiliated with a major international alliance. In June, Emirates senior vice
president of commercial operations for the Americas Nigel Page—who since has retired—told
BTN that development of major
alliances, and especially antirust-immune joint ventures, "hasn't been too
much of a threat to us. We're happy to go our own independent way, and it
doesn't stop people from wanting to use Emirates."
Indeed,
the Dubai-based carrier has cultivated one-off arrangements with several
airlines, Qantas one of the more prominent.
Subject
to approvals from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and other
regulators, the two airlines "will work closely on pricing,"
according to the carriers. "Until regulatory approval is obtained, the
existing and separate [commercial] deals of both Qantas and Emirates remain in
place," they added.
Cooperation
also would come in the form of "a seamless network to four continents and
more than 70 cities across Europe, Middle East and Africa," optimized
connections between Qantas and Emirates operations, and aligned loyalty
programs and airport lounges.
"Dubai
will replace Singapore as Qantas' hub for services to Europe from April
2013," Qantas added. "Previously our services to Singapore and Hong
Kong were timed to optimize travel through to Europe. We will retime our
existing services to Singapore and Hong Kong offering an improved schedule
dedicated to better meet the needs of the Asia market."
Qantas
also indicated it would operate daily flights using Airbus A380 aircraft "from
London to both Sydney and Melbourne via Dubai. This means the two airlines will
jointly offer almost 100 weekly services between Australia and Dubai. The new
partnership will also allow us to codeshare on all Emirates' flights from
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth directly to Dubai."
On
its website, Qantas said the deal does not include Emirates buying equity in
Qantas.