Key route changes ahead as Qantas extends partnership with Emirates
Expect new aircraft and new ways to travel to the UK and Europe.
Qantas and Emirates have announced that after a successful five-year partnership, the two airlines are extending their alliance deal by another five years.
This move brings with it a myriad of changes in alignment with customer demand. These include changes in aircraft technology, a greater focus on the Asian market and three options to fly to the UK and Europe. You can now fly to the UK and Europe via Perth, Singapore or Dubai.
These UK/Europe flight options will come into effect 25 March 2018, following the launch of the new daily Boeing 787 Melbourne-Perth-London service, which replaces the existing Melbourne-Dubai-London service.
Also from 25 March 2018, Qantas will re-route its daily Sydney-London A380 service via Singapore instead of Dubai. This replaces one of the two daily Singapore A330 flights.
Dubai will continue to be serviced by the 77 existing weekly flights offered by Emirates. These depart from Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney and will enable customers to make connections via the UAE hub to other destinations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Qantas is also set to upgrade its daily Melbourne-Singapore service from an A330 to an A380 as well as increase its three-per-week A330 flights on this route to a daily service.
Of the changes, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said, "Our partnership has evolved to a point where Qantas no longer needs to fly its own aircraft through Dubai, and that means we can redirect some of our A380 flying into Singapore and meet the strong demand we’re seeing in Asia.
"Improvements in aircraft technology mean the Qantas network will eventually feature a handful of direct routes between Australia and Europe, but this will never overtake the sheer number of destinations served by Emirates and that’s why Dubai will remain an important hub for our customers."
Tickets for the new routes are available to book tomorrow. Any flights affected by the above changes will be re-booked or given the option to change flights.
