QANTAS is expected to announce a partnership with Middle Eastern airline Emirates tomorrow.
Emirates president Tim Clark will be in Sydney and the Sydney to Auckland sector of an Emirates flight has been cancelled that day, with industry speculation it has been set aside for publicity purposes.
Under the partnership between Australia's national carrier and the world's largest international airline, some Qantas flights would transit via Dubai instead of Singapore.
It would give Australian travellers access to 30 destinations in Europe and 18 in Africa.
Qantas would no longer fly to Frankfurt, its last port in mainland Europe.
Qantas currently has an agreement with British Airways on the Kangaroo Route to London, with the new route nicknamed "the falcon route'' after the United Arab Emirates' national bird.
Middle Eastern carriers are increasingly focusing their attention on Australia as the strong dollar continues to entice a record number of people to travel overseas.
Emirates will begin flying from Adelaide in November, increasing the flights to daily from February, and is also increasing its flights from Perth.
Virgin Australia has a partnership with Etihad, but Qatar Airways doesn't have a local codeshare partner.
A Qantas spokeswoman declined to comment on the deal.
"There's always speculation about Qantas," she said. "We are regularly in discussions with various airlines regarding potential alliances, both for Qantas and Jetstar, and we don't comment on those discussions.
"When Qantas has something to announce, we announce it."
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Qantas and Emirates to ink partnership deal | News.com.au