Airline News
Emirates/Qantas alliance to continue?
April 27th 2015
Emirates Airline chief, Sir Tim Clark, has signalled the Gulf carrier would look at expanding its alliance with Qantas Airways beyond the initial five-year term. "[The alliance is] doing really well. We're filling our aeroplanes up. Read More » They're filling our [aeroplanes and] we're putting a lot on their domestic network," Clark told the Gulf News.
Clark said Emirates was planning to deploy more A380s to Australia this year. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approved Emirates' extensive alliance with Qantas for five years in 2013, which was less than the 10 years the airlines had sought. "As long as [Qantas chief executive] Alan Joyce is there and I'm here at Emirates and the Emirates team is working closely together with Qantas, [then] it will just be a continuation," Clark said just days after signing a $9.2 billion deal with Rolls-Royce for 217 Trent 900 turbines to power the 50 additional Airbus A380s it ordered in 2013. Clark, 65, said he didn’t think he would still “be around in the next 10 years” and added that working in the industry was “a younger man’s game”.
In Australia, the ACCC has extended the deadline for a decision on the proposed Qantas-China Eastern Airlines alliance until August 31 after the Australian & International Pilots Association joined a growing list of government, tourism and transport bodies in telling the regulator it "leans far too heavily on what is 'possible' [for the two airlines] rather than what is actually 'likely' ".
Canberra’s Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development had earlier said the ACCC’s draft decision was “too narrowly focused” on the Sydney-Shanghai route instead of the greater benefits it provides for the wider Australia-China market and saw “no reason to deny” the proposed alliance. Canberra has identified inbound Chinese tourism as a major growth engine for the economy.
China Eastern rival and another member of the Mainland’s “Gang of Three” – Air China – said its proposed alliance with Air New Zealand could be operational by the third quarter, subject to regulatory approvals. Beijing-based Air China last week issued a net profit forecast of 1.6-1.8 billion yuan ($258-$290 million) for the first quarter of 2015, up from 93 million yuan for the corresponding period in 2014.
It said the increased earnings were mainly due to “optimised operational arrangements and increased capacity deployment to meet market demand”, but also as a result of the decrease in fuel cost. In the meantime, Air China and South African Airways (SAA) have rejected reports they were in talks over a possible Chinese equity investment in SAA.
