Bali, Indonesia: Emirates’ five-year partnership with Qantas sealed in 2013 has reaped fruitful results for both airlines, with the latter reporting as much as a sixfold jump in business, according to a top Emirates official.
“We have just celebrated our second anniversary and according to [Qantas chief executive] Alan Joyce, its partnership with Emirates has brought sixfold more business to the brand compared to its previous partnership,” Barry Brown, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations for Far East and Australasia, told Gulf News in an interview.
Following Qantas moving its hub to Dubai, tourism in the UAE has also received a boost, specifically with an increasing Australian footfall, Brown said.
“For Qantas, shifting their hub from Singapore to Dubai has assisted them in their growth aspirations. The partnership has also helped the tourism sector in Dubai, thereby helping its economy as well,” he said, adding: “Our customers love it, their customers love it — it’s a marriage made in heaven.”
On any further expansion plans for Emirates in Australia, Brown said: “With the existing capacity, we have the room to grow by another 14 flights per week. But at the moment we have the right number of flights. We have just launched the Airbus A380 to Perth, so we will continue to grow gradually. As economies begin to grow in pace, we will look to expand according to market needs.”
Allegations
According to Brown, the airline’s major focus at the moment is on the US market. “Last year we launched Boston and Chicago, this year we are about to launch Orlando,” he said.
In a reference to the ongoing allegations levelled by a consortium of US airlines against Gulf carriers, including Emirates, Brown said: “We have said publicly and officially — we are not subsidised. And we will continue to look at the expansion of our network in the US. That has been our strategic plan for a number of years and that hasn’t changed. We are following up on that plan and will continue to do so in the future.”
Elsewhere in Asia, China remains a strong sector of attention for the airline. “We continue to talk to the Chinese government, the government talks to us. It’s also interesting to see what the Chinese carriers are doing to grow — so we keep taking a strong and granular view on China,” Brown said. “We have recently added to the capacity of Hong Kong as well, so at the moment we have used our allotments,” he added.
