Emirates-Qantas ties take off

If Emirates and Qantas airlines were hoping to make waves with their ground-breaking new partnership, their historic publicity stunt flying two superjumbo planes over Australia’s Sydney Harbour Bridge certainly helped.

Social media websites Twitter and Facebook came alive with people delighting in the manoeuvres of the big A380 planes, one Qantas and one Emirates, which flew over landmarks including the harbour bridge and Sydney Opera House at a height of 1500 feet, at 10.30am local time on Sunday morning — or 3.30am on Sunday morning UAE time. Close to 15,000 people had already liked news of the event posted to Emirates Facebook page late on Sunday evening, with many declaring their affection for Dubai’s local carrier — rated one of the top ten in the world.

Sukumar Subramani declared: “Well calculated flying distance in between, fantastic to watch,” Dario Gonsenica called the feat “very impressive,” while Ali Sibtain was already thinking about the successful future of the new union.

“Have a happy married life...your kids will be called EMIR TAS,” Sibtain said.

The flyover signalled the official start of the partnership which received final approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on March 27, Emirates Airline said in a Press release. Qantas had earlier told AFP it believed it was “the first time anywhere in the world where two commercial airline A380s have flown in formation”.

“It is also believed to be the first time that two separate airlines have flown together in formation.”

Manning the Emirates flight was Emirati Captain Abbas Shaban, while his boss Emirates Airline president Tim Clark watched the flyover from the Sydney Opera House alongside Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce and members of the public.

At an earlier Press conference, Clark said stitching the two airlines services together had created a partnership providing “one of the most formidable aviation networks in the world”.

He said the aviation sector had not previously contemplated a partnership of this scale, particularly involving Emirates which historically had not been keen on forming partnerships.

The partnership is seen as vital for the beleaguered Qantas, which posted a $450 million loss last year — its first deficit since 1995 — and claimed to be in “terminal decline” in its submission to the ACCC.

The inaugural flight from Sydney to London, stopping over in Dubai, was due to reach the emirate about midnight last night, while the first flights out of Dubai to Australia were due to leave at 9.20 this morning.

news@khaleejtimes.com