Qantas and Emirates have announced they will extend their code-share partnership for another five years.
The agreement was signed by Emirates president Sir Tim Clark and Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce at the International Air Transport Association Annual General Meeting in Boston.
The two airlines have approvals from regulators to operate a joint business until March 2023 and will now seek re-authorisation from regulators, including the ACCC, to continue the core elements of the partnership including coordination of pricing, schedules, sales and tourism marketing on approved routes until 2028.
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For Emirates customers, the deal provides access to over 55 Australian destinations that Emirates does not fly to, and Qantas customers are able to fly on Emirates to Dubai and access over 50 cities in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, that Qantas does not fly to.
Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, said that “the extension of our partnership with Qantas is testament to its success.
“It also reflects our commitment to ensure customers travelling to and from Australia, a market which we have served for 25 years, continue to have the best connections and frequent flyer benefits.
“Our partnership seamlessly connects travellers to over one hundred destinations globally on our joint network and offers a coordinated premium experience such as access to points and lounges.
“As borders re-open, we look forward to restoring our Australian flight schedules including our popular A380 services,” Sir Tim said.
Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said that the agreement “marks the continuation of one of the most significant bilateral partnerships in aviation.
“We called it ‘seismic’ when it launched in 2013 and it has been, especially in terms of what it’s meant for over 13 million people who have travelled on flights that form part of the deal.
“We know the international aviation market will take years to fully recover so close collaboration between airline partners is going to be more important than ever.”
Since 2013, more than 13 million passengers have travelled on the joint network, travelling more than 87 billion kilometres.
On average more than 13,000 Emirates passengers have travelled on Qantas’ domestic and regional services within Australia each month.
