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April 1st, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Qantas chief Alan Joyce has described the airline’s new partnership with Emirates as a “seismic shift” in the global aviation industry.
The partnership, which was approved by the competition watchdog last week, will see flights on Qantas’s route to London stopping over in Dubai instead of Singapore.
“It’s a big moment for Qantas, probably one of the biggest moments in our 92 year history,” Mr Joyce told AM.
“But already we can see that our customers, our employees and our share holders are reacting unbelievably positively to the Emirates alliance.
“It’s going to be great for us, great for tourism in Australia and great for aviation in general.”
Mr Joyce says the partnership is critical to the viability of Qantas International.
“Qantas International to Europe has struggled for some time because of the competition from now over 32 different carriers,” he said.
“We now have over 32 destinations in Europe compared to five one-stop destinations previously.”
Asked if the partnership would be enough to get Qantas International back into profit permanently and to stop terminal decline, Mr Joyce said: “Absolutely.”
“We believe that Qantas International [will] break even in financial year 15,” he said.
“Of course Qantas domestic, Jetstar and other frequent flyer businesses are very profitable.
“So getting Qantas International back to break even is the first step.”
Mr Joyce says Qantas had other options if the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had vetoed the Emirates deal.
“Qantas has been going through a lot of alternatives; we worked with British Airways for a long time,” Mr Joyce said.
“We’ve been talking to other carriers trying to do deal previously. There weren’t many alternatives left.
“But the best alternative is the one we’ve ended up with because this partnership is made in heaven for us.
“We couldn’t get a better carrier to team with us with better complementary network.”
When asked how good the deal is for travellers – given that booking a flight on Emirates to Amsterdam or Manchester is currently significantly cheaper than booking on Qantas – Mr Joyce said Qantas is working on an “alignment of airfares”.
“There will be a complete alignment of airfares between Emirates and Qantas,” he said.
“And that will happen over the next few weeks because part of the giant venture is to have the exact same airfares between both carriers.”
Topics:
business-economics-and-finance,
air-transport,
australia,
asia
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Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-01/joyce-hails-emirates-partnership/4603452
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