Qantas and Emirates Grow Partnership with Extra Destinations

7th Oct 2015

According to Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, the alliance between this carrier and Australian Qantas could soon offer more to their passengers. He said that Qantas is considering flying Boeing 787-9 planes from Dubai to mainland Europe, while Emirates are also looking to add something extra to the table.

When asked if Emirates could soon begin operating to cities in Australia not named Melbourne or Sydney, Clark responded:

"Darwin, Cairns, Broome, Alice Springs. Look, there are lots of possibilities."

Mr. Clark said this after meeting with Qantas CEO Alan Joyce. The two met last week to talk about the alliance between their companies and its future.

Emirates President also revealed plans to expand its offer when it comes to Australia's larger cities. The Dubai-based airline recently announced plans to start using its flagship Airbus A380 on Melbourne-Singapore-Dubai route, instead of the smaller Boeing 777.

Qantas currently offers one flight per day from Sydney to London (via Dubai), operated by A380 aircraft, as well as another a Melbourne-Dubai-London flight. Mr. Clark, however, said that Qantas has the potential to fly to European cities like Paris and Rome. That could happen as soon as the eight Boeing 787-9s arrive in late 2017.

Of course, five of the 787-9s are already scheduled to replace the smaller and older 747s on routes to the US, South Africa and Japan. As for the other three, they are free to be used as Qantas sees fit, so why not Europe?

This doesn't mean the Flying Kangaroo can't order even more jets in the future. After all, it still has 30 purchase rights and 15 options with guaranteed delivery dates.

Speaking about the imminent delivery of 787-9s, a spokesman for Qantas said:

"The range and the economics of the 787-9 open up a lot of route opportunities, so, we'll be looking at those as the delivery of our first aircraft gets closer. Naturally, our alliance partners form part of that thinking, in terms of offering the best joint network that we can."

Qantas and Emirates teamed up in 2013 and eventually expanded their partnership thanks to regulatory approvals to last until 2018. Both companies have said they want the alliance to last beyond that date.