Emirates Keen on Partnership with Qantas

MELBOURNE, June 12 (Bernama) -- Emirates has confirmed that it has reached out to Qantas Airways about a commercial partnership. While Emirates president Tim Clark said he was open to working together with Qantas to try to expand the Dubai carrier's network in Oceania, he categorically ruled out taking an equity stake in the embattled Australian airline, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reports. Emirates flies to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, as well as onwards from Australia to New Zealand. Clark said he had made some initial approaches to Qantas regarding a code sharing arrangement in Oceania, an area that Emirates had "not really touched". Any partnership would be similar to Emirates' code shares with US-based JetBlue or Jet Airways in India, where its "EK" airline code is placed on other airlines' flights. "Let's say we've put out feelers," Clark told AAP on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual meeting in Beijing on Tuesday. Emirates flies about 70 flights a week into and out of Australia, which was approaching the 84 a week permitted, under the bilateral agreement between the Australian and United Arab Emirates' governments. Clark said Emirates would approach the government for more landing rights into Australia only once the airline reached the limit. -- BERNAMA