Sydney, Australia, Emirates and Qantas today announced a new partnership. Under the agreement signed this morning by Emirates' president Tim Clark and Qantas' chief executive officer Alan Joyce, Qantas will move its hub for European flights from Singapore to Dubai and enter an extensive commercial relationship with Emirates.

The ten year codesharing partnership comes with integrated network collaboration by coordinated pricing, sales and scheduling. Neither airline will take equity in the other.

The partnership will see Qantas, along with anchor tenant Emirates, as the only other airline operating at Dubai International’s Terminal 3. The two airlines will jointly offer 98 weekly services between Australia and the global gateway city of Dubai including four daily A380 flights. While Emirates route network provides Qantas customers with access to more than 90 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and West Asia.

In addition, Qantas will launch daily A380 service from both Sydney and Melbourne to London via Dubai for a combined seven daily A380 flights to London Heathrow. Qantas will be the first Australian carrier to operate scheduled services to Dubai, adding 900 more seats daily from Melbourne and Sydney. This is in light of number of Australian and Asian passengers traveling through Dubai grew by 26.3 per cent in the first half of 2012.

For Emirates passengers it will open up Qantas’domestic network of more than 50 destinations and nearly 5,000 flights per week. The carriers will also coordinate their respective trans-Tasman services between Australia and New Zealand with Emirates offering additional schedule flights to Christchurch and Auckland, including the introduction of Emirates' daily A380 services on the Melbourne-Auckland route in October.

Emirates and Qantas frequent flyer programs will be combined, to earn and redeem points, with reciprocal access to tier status benefits including end-to-end recognition of customers, lounge access, priority check-in and boarding and other services.

Tim Clark said “The time was right for developing a long term, future forward partnership with Qantas, the iconic Australian airline.

“Since our first flights began in 1996, Australia has long been a popular destination for Emirates leisure and business traveler, making it one of the top three destinations in our network.” “By establishing this partnership we are providing our passengers with additional connectivity in Australia and the region and the ability to utilize enhanced frequent flyer benefits and have access to premium lounges for an exceptional travel experience.”

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While Alan Joyce added “Emirates is the ideal partner for Qantas. It has a wonderful brand, a modern fleet, an uncompromising approach to quality and it flies to the A‐list of international destinations.

“As the world’s biggest international airline, with a network that perfectly complements our own, Emirates will help us give our customers across Australia a dramatically expanded range of travel options. “Together with Emirates, Qantas will provide a unique ‘one stop’ hub service, as well as a deeply integrated frequent flyer and customer proposition.”

“The partnership delivers on all four pillars of the Qantas Group’s international strategy: it will see us fly to the global gateway city of Dubai, provide some of the world’s best travel experiences through both Qantas and Emirates, improve our position in Asia through better timed flights and, crucially, help build a strong Qantas International business for the long term, he added.”

The airlines will submit applications for authorisation to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and other relevant regulatory authorities, in order to commence commercial planning. Subject to regulatory approvals, it is anticipated that the partnership arrangements will take effect in April 2013.