Emirates’ customers can now begin enjoying the benefits of what the Emirates and Qantas partnership has to offer, following the opening up of bookings to a number of Qantas domestic destinations, with travel from 31st March 2013.

The partnership gained interim authorisation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on 17th January for the proposed Emirates and Qantas partnership. The partnership remains subject to final regulatory approval in relevant jurisdictions.

Emirates customers can now choose from 32 Australian destinations that Qantas operates to including Canberra, Port Lincoln, Cairns and Hobart, opening up Australia to passengers from all over the ever expanding Emirates network.

From 31st March, Emirates’ Skywards members will also be able to earn Skywards Miles on Qantas international flights and domestic flights that are part of a continuous international journey with Emirates or Qantas.

Qantas Frequent Flyers will be able to earn points on all Emirates flights.

“With 12 daily flights between Dubai and five Australian cities, Australia is a very strong market for Emirates and our customers are looking forward to taking advantage of the benefits the Emirates and Qantas partnership has to offer. When we first began the planning of this partnership it was always driven by what extra we are able to offer our customers,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Passenger Sales Worldwide.

“We are also looking forward to welcoming Qantas passengers on board our aircraft after opening up our ever expanding network in Europe, Middle East and Africa for sale to Qantas customers,” added Mr Antinori.

Following the grant of interim approval, Emirates and Qantas are finalising other details of their partnership, including joint pricing, schedules and additional frequent flyer benefits.

Source Emirates