The Partnership Between Qantas and Emirates Clears First Hurdle

December 20, 2012 at 12:11 PM | by jetflyboy | Comments (0)

Ignore the obviously photoshopped A380 above

Way back in September, we briefly talked about a huge airline partnership between Qantas and Emirates. Back then the deal was still in its infancy and only the proposed benefits were released and, of course, the entire project was waiting for the respective Governments to approve the coupling.

Just today the first major hurdle was cleared. The ACCC, the Aussie Government office that wants to make sure there is due competition in the market, has given their initial thumbs-up for the partnership. Now, the two airlines can move forward with some mutual love. Furthermore, Emirates' CEO clarified the reason for this whole joint partnership, saying, "We don't want to enter a global alliance".

Since the initial announcement, the Red Roo has gone about issuing notice that it'd be moving its Asian hub from Singapore to Dubai, where Emirates calls home. Since they didn't need the government approval to start flying to Dubai, they got things moving and shifted their Sydney and Melbourne flights to Europe through the UAE hub.

It's more than just routes, as the two airlines aligned IT systems, designed parallel frequent flyer programs and began setting up an operational base for Qantas at Dubai.

If all goes well, official approval to close the deal will happen sometime in March of 2013, with full partnership taking effect April 1st. At this point, passengers will have access to the giant networks on both ends and it should ease travel frustration for the next five years. All in all, this just gives another option for frequent flyers to earn and burn some points.

[Photo: Qantas Instagram]

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