Emirates and Qantas marked the official start of their partnership, with the first Qantas flights departing from Sydney and Melbourne to London via the international hub of Dubai on Sunday.

“The strength of this partnership stems from the fact the Emirates and Qantas brands are an excellent match. Emirates customers using a Qantas lounge or taking a Qantas flight will experience a level of service that is on par with what they expect from Emirates,” said Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline.

“Our two airlines offer the largest joint fleet of Airbus A380s and passengers will be welcomed through Concourse A, the world’s first, purpose built A380 concourse, at Dubai International Airport, which is the geographical centrepiece of the partnership ... A major benefit is the range of products we are offering frequent flyers. Customers of either airline can leverage many of their privileges when they fly on the joint network, including earning points, redeeming flights and accessing lounges.”

Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Alan Joyce, said,

“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 and Emirates network. By travelling through Dubai, Qantas customers can connect to the extensive Emirates network into Europe and the UK and fly directly to their destination.”

Combined the two airlines will offer 98 flights a week between Australia and Dubai.

Customers have already responded strongly to the partnership, with over 212,086 sectors booked so far on the joint network. Qantas has seen a six fold increase in bookings to Europe on the joint network in the first nine weeks of sales compared to the same period last year. The number of Emirates customers booked to travel on Qantas’ domestic network is almost seven times higher than under Qantas’ previous partnership arrangement in the same nine week period.

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