Qantas has been “flooded with bookings” since it started selling codeshare flights with Emirates – ahead of the launch of its new formal partnership with the Middle Eastern carrier.
The Australian airline last month opened up bookings for its new joint network with Emirates which begins operating from the end of March when Qantas' 17-year joint business agreement with British Airways ends.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the 10-year partnership with Emirates “represents a seismic shift for global aviation”.
“We have been taking bookings on Qantas-coded flights on Emirates metal for just three weeks and we have been flooded with bookings,” added Joyce. “Clearly this does represent some pent-up consumer demand.
“But to give you a sense of the appeal of the Qantas-Emirates partnership, in our second week of selling we took more than five times the bookings achieved with previous partner British Airways in the equivalent week last year.”
Joyce made his comments as Qantas unveiled a 164 per cent increase in profits for the six months to the end of December 2012. The airline made a statutory profit of Aus $111 million (£75 million) during the half-year, compared to Aus $42 million (£28 million) for the same period in 2011.
The Australian airline was boosted by a compensation payment of Aus $125 million (£85 million) from Boeing for delays in delivering Dreamliner B787 aircraft. Qantas also reduced losses for its international operation from a loss of Aus $262 million (£175 million) for the second half of 2011 to a deficit of Aus $91 million (£60 million) last year.
“The 65 per cent improvement in Qantas International’s underlying EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) is testament to the steps taken to remove cost from the businesses, from closing down loss-making routes to retiring aircraft and consolidating operations,” added Joyce.
“But we have also moved to renew Qantas International: nine Boeing 747s have been upgraded with A380-standard cabins, we have strengthened our alliances with American Airlines and LAN around the new hubs of Dallas/Fort Worth and Santiago, and we are introducing new customer services such as chauffeur transport.”
Qantas will be using Dubai as its hub through to Europe from March 31 instead of Singapore when it starts the partnership with Emirates.
The new 10-year partnership has already received interim clearance from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last month for their new global partnership. Final authorisation for the Emirates-Qantas partnership is expected to be given by Australian regulators in March.
“Customers are clearly excited about our one-stop offer to Europe,” said Joyce. “We sold four times the number of seats to Barcelona than the same week last year; 13 times more to Munich, 14 times to Copenhagen and 17 times to Milan.
“Manchester and Gatwick are our best-performing destinations outside of Heathrow.”