QANTAS forges Emirate tie

[Peabody]

From the AFR ( Qantas forges Emirates tie )

Qantas Airways would give up its last European port and route many of its London flights through Dubai instead of Singapore under a proposed tie-up with the world’s largest international airline, Emirates.

The Australian Financial Review has learned Qantas is edging closer to a transformational alliance with the Dubai-owned carrier designed to revive the Australian icon’s loss-making international arm.

 

[cove]

Thanks for posting this Peabody. Sure it is a work in progress.

 

[whatmeworry]

Interesting read. I flew MEL-FRA last year in Y in July and return in September, and the plane was chokers. That would mean another international route gone (SIN-FRA). Not a fan of that. It would mean one less route I could use QFF points and harder to use ASA's on long haul routes, as redeeming ASA's to LHR is already hard enough.
I would like to see how point/SC's earn would be on EK as a QFF.
This would be good for some people who now can get direct flights to certain cities. However for me, I still would have to transit to a hub city to get my preferred destination in Europe.
I see there another number of OW members that fly to DXB.

 

[Simo]

It sounds like a win for QF passengers as sometimes the waits and also delays that can be experienced due to missed connections due to delays in SIN.

Would like to visit the flounge in DBX if there ever is one.

Maybe not the best place for a social as Alcohol policy is pretty strict in UAE.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Sounds sensible to me. Pulling out of Europe and freeing up capital for Asia makes sense. As discussed on another thread on here, only two European based airline still flying to Australia, this should bring that down to zero which makes much more sense.

 

[Peabody]

It would be a shame to see another international route disappear. However most of my travel to Europe is to Italy, FRA and FCO are both terrible airports and being able to take one out the equation would be fantastic for me! The last time I flew QF5/6 was in 2006 as we later changed to SYD-SIN-LHR-FCO.

It would be good to find out the SC and points earn though.

 

[oz_mark]

Sounds much like another airlines game plan....

Sent from my HTC Legend using AustFreqFly

 

[simongr]

Maybe not the best place for a social as Alcohol policy is pretty strict in UAE.

really? I thought Dubai was westernized? I have had alcomohol at dxb...

 

[Justchecking]

Sounds much like another airlines game plan....

Sent from my HTC Legend using AustFreqFly

Maybe AJ's taking the free lessons on offer...

 

[simongr]

I do like this idea. Better one stop connections into Europe. Personally great for Cyprus flights.

It leaves a continuing gap in Asia unless that is planned to be owned by JQ.

 

[coyote25]

Sounds sensible to me. Pulling out of Europe and freeing up capital for Asia makes sense. As discussed on another thread on here, only two European based airline still flying to Australia, this should bring that down to zero which makes much more sense.

The article seems to indicate there will still be some flights to London

"As part of any alliance, Qantas would shift a proportion of its flights to London away from Singapore to transit via Dubai, and potentially add extra flights."

But probably just a token number. Still the Emirates hub solves a few complaints about limited destinations in Europe.

Interesting to understand how the FFP would work with Emirates and whether oneworld products would be allowed on the codeshare flights.

Still seems very sensible and needed for QFi which could then move to more niche/local destinations.

Wonder what the outstanding issues are and timeframe.

I have a flight to FRA in October so I'll get a chance to experience a route that looks like it is history either way.

 

[VHOEJ]

I also think it is a good idea. It will be a shame to lose FRA as a destination but it is going to happen eventually.

Seems the major hurdle is still the BA tie up and the fact EK isn't part of oneworld. Still seems like a lot to sort out but ending the BA relationship won't be the biggest loss I don't think.

 

[smit0847]

I can see this having huge benefits for QF as they can immediately forget about trying to make Europe flights work and just concentrate on flying as many planes to DXB as they can fill. Instead of having 2 EU destinations from their Singapore hub they would now have 30 from DXB.

However, I can't see much benefit for EK. Yes QF would feed pax into DXB which EK would then fly onto EU and African destinations. However, EK already do this themselves - they fly to Australia 70 times a week which I think would mean EK have more flights from Australia to DXB than QF have to SIN. I guess also QF would feed regional pax onto their QF or EK flights to DXB who might have otherwise flown VA/SQ/EY, but is that that many people?

EK are rapidly expanding their flights intl flights from Australia while QF are shrinking theirs. Would this mean EK will not announce any new flights and QF will get to increase capacity/flights to cope? EK are just about to start ADL services.

There will be the same Y+ problem VA have with EY (in that QF will offer it to DXB but EK won't onwards). I would love to see a flight every 4 hours from MEL and SYD to DXB on either QF or EK - that sort of frequency would be fantastic for business travellers.

Surely this is also a direct breach of the conditions of their OW membership? They will be moving pax away from OW partner airlines.

 

[whatmeworry]

I do like this idea. Better one stop connections into Europe. Personally great for Cyprus flights.

It leaves a continuing gap in Asia unless that is planned to be owned by JQ.

My reading of the article is QFi will still fly to SIN.

 

[simongr]

My reading of the article is QFi will still fly to SIN.

There isn't much of a OW or QF codeshare network ex-SIN to the rest of Asia.

 

[Blackadder]

Daily Terror take on it.

Qantas to forge alliance with Emirates | Latest Business & Australian Stock market News | thetelegraph.com.au

 

[SeatBackForward]

There isn't much of a OW or QF codeshare network ex-SIN to the rest of Asia.

Well two possiblities
1) MH join OW and SIN gets shifted to KUL
2) QF Red or whatever they call it based in SIN become the Asian feeder network (though how this is different to JetStar Asia im not sure)

 

[simongr]

Well two possiblities
1) MH join OW and SIN gets shifted to KUL
2) QF Red or whatever they call it based in SIN become the Asian feeder network (though how this is different to JetStar Asia im not sure)

Exactly my point. SIN as it stands ISN'T a great solution - there needs to be [at least] a second strand to this strategy.

What we need to recognise is that QF is in the fleet position it is in - it would be nice if they had made different decisions years ago and other things had happened or didnt happen. But the fact is that this is the fleet that they have, they have capital constraints so perhaps can not develop the fleet in the way that we would like. If they could be a smallish premium airline (on the A380 they do have a good product) feeding into bigger networks then surely that is a good thing.

 

[SeatBackForward]

As others have intimated, Oneworlds repsonse to this would be interesting. They arleady have CX, JL and QF as airlines in the Asian region, with potentially MH joining soon. Surely they will begin eating into each others bottom line. I highly doubt EK will join the fold, perhaps its a sign that QF will depart OW, perhaps setup something with EK directly? The missing piece in that puzzle is who will partner in the Americas?

 

[Princess Fiona]

Whilst I can see the advantage of going through DXB to get to GLA/EDI etc I can also see huge disadvantages if the new tie went ahead and caused QF to leave OW. The relationship between QF/BA/AA has been a large part of my reason to remain a loyal QFF and I hope it continues.