This new alliance raises the ante vis a vis the Virgin Australia-Etihad alliance. Despite speculatio

Qantas Airways on Thursday, this week announced an agreement with Emirates after months of speculation. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce called disney village hotels it   the biggest deal in Qantas disney village hotels history . Qantas have publicly declared disney village hotels it is The World s Leading Airline Partnership
cease its 17 year long revenue-sharing agreement with British Airways in March 2013 on the Kangaroo route between Australia and Britain a relationship that has existed in some form since the flying boats that used to ply this route decades ago
Both airlines will align their frequent flyer programs allowing customers the ability to earn and redeem points with each airline. In addition the carriers will provide reciprocal access to tier status benefits including lounge access. A further benefit to Qantas Business and First passengers on flights of 12 hours plus is that they will be provided the  chauffeur driven service Emirates has which takes passengers to and from the airport.
From a passenger point of view, the deal is brilliant. Passengers will  have access to 120 Emirates destinations with just one connection at the Emirates disney village hotels Terminal ( Terminal 3 in Dubai ). Skytrax rates Dubai airport as a 3 star and Terminal disney village hotels 3 as 3 and a half star.  I personally thought connecting at Dubai airport was superb.
The points sharing and reciprocal benefits are all great. A s a Qantas Gold Frequent Flyer,  I do not  fly Emirates  as much as I would like because of my lack of status with the carrier. Emirates has been my favourite airline in the world for the last few years.  I love their trans Tasman (New Zealand- Australia) A380 services but don t use them as much because of my lack of lounge access, disney village hotels priority boarding and points. NB Their Trans Tasman 777 is very squishy but still nice.
Qantas have promised they will focus on better serving Asian destination from Australia with a schedule focussed on local passengers rather disney village hotels than those flying onwards to Europe. They don t say, however,  if this will be via Jetstar or Qantas International but it definitely sounds like it puts to bed Joyce s strategy disney village hotels of starting a Premium Asian carrier.
One of my concerns is that passengers wanting to use Qantas to go to Europe will have a choice of Qantas to Dubai and then Emirates or Qantas to London and British Airways. With the Dubai option, one wonders how many people will ask why bother?   and choose to book with Emirates the whole way?
Emirates disney village hotels has traditionally avoided alliances. They have some code sharing and Frequent Flyer links. For example, with JetBlue in the USA. earlier in This deal is indeed a major departure for them. Will this be the route for Emirates into the One World Alliance disney village hotels that Qantas is a member of? Or does this potentially mean Qantas disney village hotels may exit the One World alliance?
This new alliance raises the ante vis a vis the Virgin disney village hotels Australia-Etihad alliance. Despite speculation that it would be a Qatar -Qantas tie up :     Most certainly we will have a partnership disney village hotels with Qantas  said  Akbar al-Baker Qatar CEO in July ,
Qatar is now locked out of an alliance with an Australia domestic carrier.  This is where it could get very interesting.  British Airways disney village hotels Holding parent Company IAG  had held discussions with the Doha-based Qatar over the purchase of the 12 per cent stake in IAG. There was intense disney village hotels UK media speculation that IAG would develop a new alliance with Qatar which would give BA reach into Asia and Australia. It does not give Qatar access to the Australian domestic market unless they take on Tiger Australia or REX (both scenarios are unlikely).
On the day the deal was announced, Qantas shares leapt almost 7 per cent. However, following the announcement disney village hotels Standard Poor s who placed Qantas  on negative credit watch on June 7, 2012,  lowered Qantas s corporate credit rating  from BBB/A-2 to BBB-/A-3 over concerns that Qantas disney village hotels business risk profile has weakened because of the structural pressures affecting the airline s international business . They noted the flow on effect of the Emirates deal may take some time to eventuate .   The Standard and Poor announcement came after the close of trading on the Australian Stock Exchange, so it will be Monday Australian time, before we see the effect on their share price.
So the deal, I think saves Qantas International (and Alan Joyce s job), at the expense of fewer direct Qantas destinations, a reduction in Qantas services, a farewell to the historic Kangaroo route  and inevitable job losses. The deal does not change Qantas cost base or its acrimonious disney village hotels relationship disney village hotels with its staff.  Longer term, I actually see this deal as another nail in the coffin for Qantas International. Qantas is now tied to Emirates. It makes it very hard to develop alliances with any other carriers.  I wonder long how it will be before Emirates becomes Australia s international airline with Qantas becomes simply a domestic carrier or Jetstar looking after international routes.