EMIRATES’ customers can now begin enjoying the benefits of what the Emirates and Qantas partnership has to offer, following the opening up of bookings to a number of Qantas domestic destinations, with travel from March 31, 2013.
The partnership gained interim authorisation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on January 17 for the proposed Emirates and Qantas partnership. The partnership remains subject to final regulatory approval in relevant jurisdictions.
Emirates customers can now choose from 32 Australian destinations that Qantas operates to including Canberra, Port Lincoln, Cairns and Hobart, opening up Australia to passengers from all over the ever expanding Emirates network. From March 31, Emirates’ Skywards members will also be able to earn Skywards Miles on Qantas international flights and domestic flights that are part of a continuous international journey with Emirates or Qantas. Qantas Frequent Flyers will be able to earn points on all Emirates flights.
“With 12 daily flights between Dubai and five Australian cities, Australia is a very strong market for Emirates and our customers are looking forward to taking advantage of the benefits the Emirates and Qantas partnership has to offer. When we first began the planning of this partnership it was always driven by what extra we are able to offer our customers,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ executive vice president, Passenger Sales Worldwide.
Emirates announced its commitment to Japan with the launch of daily, non-stop flights between Dubai and Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) on June 3, 2013. Haneda, which will become Emirates’ 131st destination, is currently ranked as the second busiest airport in Asia.
Further the airline increased its flights into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by offering 20 more flights each week. Riyadh goes from 17 to 28 flights a week, Jeddah jumps from 18 to 21 flights and Dammam has received an extra six services, becoming 13 flights a week. There will continue to be a daily flight to Al Medinah al Munawarah. The changes will take the airline’s KSA flights to 69 per week.