Emirates open to more Qantas-like deals: Clark

Emirates airline is open for tie-ups such as the one it signed with  Australian carrier Qantas, said a senior airline official in Dubai on Monday.

Responding to a query about any new partnerships  the Dubai airline is current negotiating with US or European peers, Tim Clark, President of Emirates airline, said the airline is open and will look at any opportunity that comes its way.

“We’ll act on any opportunity where we see the partnership adding value. We can look at any partnership where the airlines' chemistry matches similar to the deal signed with Qantas. Anything is possible,” Clark said.

The Emirates president said the Qantas deal will help boost the airline’s profits and traffic.

Alan Joyce, Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, said the Sydney-based airline has recorded sharp increase in bookings following the partnership with the Emirates.

“Qantas has seen seven-fold increase in bookings in nine weeks on routes where we have tied up with Emirates,” Joyce said at a press conference in Dubai on Monday.

“Before today, the Qantas network offered five one-stop codeshare destinations into Europe and the UK with our partners. From today, we offer access to 32 destinations in Europe on the combined Qantas and Emirates network. The new network will cut average journey times by more than two hours from Melbourne and Sydney to the top 10 destinations in Europe,” said Joyce.

“From today, our customers from Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney have one-stop access to 65 destinations in the Middle East, North Africa, the UK and Europe via the joint Qantas-Emirates network. The two airlines combined will offer 98 flights a week between Australia and Dubai.

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