One year has passed since Emirates and Qantas announced their alliance, with both airlines reporting that they are realising the potential of the partnership.
In the four months between April and July this year, 850,000 Australians travelled to and via Dubai on Emirates and Qantas services.
“We’ve seen a huge growth in the number of Australians travelling to Europe via Dubai – especially to France, Italy and the UK, as well as a growing trend for UAE destination travel,” said Bryan Banston, Emirates vice president commercial operations, Australasia.
“Our customers have been quick to make the most of trialling both airlines’ services, including checking out our reciprocal lounge benefits and taking advantage of our seamless frequent flyer offering.”
To mark the occasion, Emirates and Qantas have today launched their largest joint commercial offer so far, releasing early bird airfares for travel in 2014.
“We’re really pleased with how well the Qantas and Emirates partnership is going – and based on bookings and feedback, so are our customers,” Qantas executive manager international sales Stephen Thompson said. “We knew we had the potential to do something that would have a huge impact on the industry, and we’re now seeing that with over half a million Qantas customers having travelled through Dubai.”