Qantas / Emirates tie up (Partnership inc. Codeshare, Status)

[nlagalle]

AJ has already made it clear - QF services will terminate in DXB, i.e. QF will cease flying into LHR.

Pax will then interline - probably on both EK and BA.

i haven't heard that one.. there was nothing said about QF not flying onto LHR...

 

[amaroo]

Why so stupid?

I suspect the best thing about DXB is flying over it at 35,000 feet

 

[simongr]

I would prefer HKG as a hub rather than SIN. I found the short flight to SIN quite an annoyance - you get on board in the afternoon, have dinner and are just falling asleep when you have to shuffle around the airport. An extra hour or so on board to sleep would really help.

 

[nlagalle]

I would prefer HKG as a hub rather than SIN. I found the short flight to SIN quite an annoyance - you get on board in the afternoon, have dinner and are just falling asleep when you have to shuffle around the airport. An extra hour or so on board to sleep would really help.

I agree.. and I do like HKG airport better than SIN

 

[simongr]

I agree.. and I do like HKG airport better than SIN

That is a given.

 

[markis10]

I agree.. and I do like HKG airport better than SIN

I would be happy with any airport so long as it was a day flight!

 

[browski]

Well, I guess the arguments would be:

• Nothing really achieved - just a change of gateway. A rejection of the alliance would mean nothing significantly more than the "do-nothing" scenario.
• One of the key gripes people had here was DXB as a gateway compared to SIN. Many people prefer SIN; some even prefer it as the stopover (i.e. stopover vs. no stopover, although a stopover in SIN clearly "wins" over a stopover in DXB as it were)
• There was all the cultural sensitivities arguments - we won't go there now (too much blood spilled already) - but many people viewed that as a "disadvantage" to be outweighed by the advantages
• QF have already made a "hub" at SIN, whereas at DXB they would have to start all over again. Not such a bad thing if the alliance got up, because at least there's some homely support or a good reason to press ahead with a capital intensive step anyway.

Thankfully no good reason then. Why does SIN "win" as a stopover; that seems an odd position to hold?

 

[browski]

I suspect the best thing about DXB is flying over it at 35,000 feet

This also seems an odd position to hold. Why would you think this to be true?

 

[wandering_fred]

Why is it that those of us who use Perth as a home airport rather than Sydney have a completely different view of where we would like our stopovers? Perhaps this is why QF management rather ignores/forgets/avoids Perth?

I don't have a strong preference between SIN / HKG as a transit stop. In the true spirit of AFF though, I note that HKG offers an additional 1000 miles or so (and crediting to the FF account) when heading to Europe from Perth.:mrgreen: Though true transit stop hotels are less expensive in Singapore. An observation supported by JohnK

Anyway I can hope that UL will have a flight CMB-PER (can't I?:shock after they join OW.

Happy wandering.

Fred

 

[Must...Fly!]

Singapore is nice but after being to Dubai recently there is plenty to see...

 

[ozmille]

Singapore is nice but after being to Dubai recently there is plenty to see...

Never fancied SIN as a stopover destination, much prefer BKK but we are looking forward to our stopover in DXB next year though

 

[simongr]

This also seems an odd position to hold. Why would you think this to be true?

I don't often agree with you but on this topic the myopic views of DXB are quite bizarre. I am really looking forward to four days there next year.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I don't often agree with you but on this topic the myopic views of DXB are quite bizarre. I am really looking forward to four days there next year.

It isn't an airport in the middle of the desert like Doha is!

 

[amaroo]

This also seems an odd position to hold. Why would you think this to be true?

Looking at the numbers posted by markis10 - I'd say most people enjoy DXB at 35,000 feet

The TAM (total available market) for UAE destined travellers ex Australia is 3100 per month, or approximately 100 a day from the whole country, thats around 10% of the same TAM for Singapore destined travellers, without an alliance a seemless transfer to other destinations would not be possible so thats essentially what your looking at! They would be better flying to Turkey which has twice the TAM and no competition.

 

[browski]

Looking at the numbers posted by markis10 - I'd say most people enjoy DXB at 35,000 feet

I know Amaroo, maybe you were just joking or maybe you were not. Either way what you've submitted is a facile argument and I was hoping you'd be more specific.

 

[amaroo]

I know Amaroo, maybe you were just joking or maybe you were not. Either way what you've submitted is a facile argument and I was hoping you'd be more specific.

Thats why we have smilies & why I used them - nor is every post meant to be momentous, argumentative or hyperopic

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Why so stupid?

Quite simply because without the alliance with EK you have no feeder traffic, no QF flights from BNE or PER to DXB, it makes the network even more disjointed, plus you can't combine destination traffic with through traffic to achieve a solid business model with streamlined connections to Europe from all major Australian cities, as you could with SIN or HKG (or to a lesser extent BKK).

Not everyone flies SYD/MEL-LHR, there is a lot of traffic into Asia (SIN/HKG) which are getting a product downgrade to 333s and 744s from 388s. Not to mention the crewing challenges they will have with a midpoint having so few flights.

Putting the various feelings about DXB itself aside, it wouldn't be a hub with so few flights and so little connecting traffic.

 

[Awesom Andy]

I think the important point is that, even if the alliance is not approved, QF can sell tickets with EK codes, and vice versa for EK. They can't coordinate marketing or prices, but in the aviation industry, that's not important - everyone knows what everyone is charging, and the routes are all in GDS so any capable travel agents can easily pull them out. It's going to make things more difficult for them, but I expect the end results to be more or less the same.

I've frequented through both SIN and HKG airports, and, as an airport, i think SIN is quite a lot better than HKG, although HKG has much better OW lounges, and seems to have a lot more space since everything is concentrated into mostly 1 big terminal airside rather than disjointed into 3 main parts (plus some other bits). Anyway, each to their own, I suppose.

And while it seems like QF has (or had) a hub in SIN, the fact is, nobody in SIN would fly on QF unless they have no choice, or it's the cheapest. The perception in SIN is that QF is unsafe, unreliable, and the service quality is on par with the likes of United. Whether that's really true is irrelevant - that's how the local market thinks. All of my colleagues would prefer to be on BA than QF, and I think that says a lot about the poor brand image in this country.

And then, those connecting to Asia via SIN are probably already doing so on SQ, and it's unlikely these pax will change to QF no matter what QF throws at them. Similarly in HKG, anyone connecting to Asia (mainly China and north Asia) would be doing so on CX/KA already, and unlikely to ever step foot on QF unless there are some major incentives to do so.

The fact is, as nice as it sounds when AJ says QF will focus more on Asia, the airline is simply uncompetitive. The only feasible advantage the group of company has in this part of the world is the Jetstar name.

 

[MarcB]

I read an interesting article on my phone on the way to work this morning, which was talking about some of the reasons why the consortium (in particular Dixon) is agitating agaisnt the QF/EK alliance. Unfortunately, I can't find the source article again, but, basically, it was along the lines that Australian's prefer Asian stopovers to Middle East layovers. Now I haven't done any specific research in this area, but given the success of carriers like EK and EY in taking market-share from QF, does anyone really think that such statements hold much credence?

 

[markis10]

I read an interesting article on my phone on the way to work this morning, which was talking about some of the reasons why the consortium (in particular Dixon) is agitating agaisnt the QF/EK alliance. Unfortunately, I can't find the source article again, but, basically, it was along the lines that Australian's prefer Asian stopovers to Middle East layovers. Now I haven't done any specific research in this area, but given the success of carriers like EK and EY in taking market-share from QF, does anyone really think that such statements hold much credence?

The ABS stats do indicate this to be the case, although they lump stopovers and destinations together, the earlier data I mentioned indicated just 3000 people stopped at the UAE in June, versus 90000 for Singapore. I think the success the carriers are having is in the Europe based traffic where the passenger is most interested in getting to their destination, there is no doubt that its easier via the Middle East with its connections taking LHR out of the equation.