G'day Wayne.
EK pilot costs are higher than QF's - this is not to take a pot shot at the EK drivers, good on them for being able to be on a better wicket. But they get housing, medical and education built in to their package.
I think you will find that EK's competitive advantage comes from more favourable tax regimes, the regulator being the owner of the airline and not paying for fuel out of DXB.
Borgetti recently said that JQ Int would probably not be flying to europe. This is because QF / JQ Int cannot make money on the oncarriage to other european ports due to the massive prices charged by other carriers on the last leg of a multi stage ticket.
The solution would be for the QF group to fly to more ports in europe and take some risks, but the current board and senior management only care about cost and not about revenue growth.