Qantas: Etihad approached us a decade earlier

 Qantas boss Alan Joyce likened an alliance offer from Etihad as “being offered the bike before the BMW,” compared to the Australian carrier’s new partnership with Emirates.
Addressing delegates at the Centre for Aviation (CAPA) Australia Pacific Aviation Summit 2013 in Sydney, Mr Joyce revealed that Etihad had approached Qantas a decade earlier with a partnership proposal, but the deal was denied.
“Our partnership with Emirates makes much more sense... the chemistry is there and both parties agree that this is a vital component when you have to face big issues down the line, you need to have that symmetry in order to work cohesively,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said.
Despite severing ties with long-time partner British Airways and moving hubs from Singapore to Dubai, Mr Joyce said Qantas’ Asia solution has become easier to navigate.
“Once the alliance with Emirates was formalised, we were able to approach Asia with a multitude of network opportunities and have since expanded the Jetstar Asia, Hong Kong and Japan brands, while doubling Qantas’ codeshare with China Eastern,” Mr Joyce said.    
Mr Joyce also emphasised the importance of Qantas and subsidiary Jetstar’s dual-brand strategy and the fact that 100 percent ownership in both brands should not be overlooked.
“We have had a successful strategy for well over ten years now - a dual-brand strategy - that hasn’t seemed to work as well in other parts of the world and that’s due to a coordinated operating performance and a focus on the different segments of the market,” Mr Joyce said.
“This year again, we’ve witnessed record customer satisfaction levels, which leads to market retention and superior yields - that’s how we’ve managed to maintain 85 percent of the Australian corporate market and a 65 percent share of the overall domestic market.”
Mr Joyce said that while capacity in the domestic Australian market had lessened after growth reached 8 percent last year, there are some segments which continue to expand.
“There is still big growth that we’re digesting on the east-west [routes] and still big growth in some of the regional markets,” Mr Joyce said.

Sourced: TravelDliayNews