Virgin Australia eyes Rome flights
While Qantas awaits official approval for its alliance with Emirates, you can expect plenty of action around the edges of the deal.
Singapore Airlines is unlikely to stand by and let Qantas/Emirates siphon off traffic to Europe via Dubai without offering some attractive fares to London and other ports in Europe.
Already Virgin has applied for 300 seats a week on routes to Italy which it would sell in conjunction with alliance partners Singapore Airlines and Etihad Airways.
The application by Virgin Australia to the International Air Services Commission takes advantage of the current expiry and renewal application by Qantas concerning the 600 seats it has for sale each week to Italian cities on a codeshare with Cathay Pacific over Hong Kong.
In a review of the Qantas-Emirates deal, Ben Sandilands, in his Plane Talking column, warns the two Qantas daily A380s to London, one each from Sydney and Melbourne, would continue to arrive early in the morning at Heathrow, and pass through Dubai in the middle of the night, "when there isn’t much opportunity for prompt efficient connections to onwards Emirates flights to elsewhere in Europe, central Asia, the Middle East, or the northern and central parts of Africa".
And with Emirates retaining the best connectivity to Europe and elsewhere for ex Australia passengers, Sandilands says, "the benefit of the partnership for Qantas would appear to be that of a coupon-clipper, picking up what amounts to a commission for selling what will remain Emirates flights operated on Emirates jets under a Qantas codeshare”.
Ian Jarrett
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