Timbo had offered advice before
Emirates offers Qantas advice
By Scott Rochfort
Sydney
June 23, 2005
The Emirates airline has recommended Qantas be more aggressive in expanding its international network, particularly in the Middle East, instead of complaining about being a disadvantaged "end of the line" carrier.
With Emirates expected to deliver a report to the Federal Government today extolling the economic and tourism benefits of Australia opening its air routes to foreign carriers, the Dubai carrier's president, Tim Clark, has suggested Qantas should even take advantage of its rights to fly into Dubai.
"Why doesn't Qantas fly to Dubai? Why doesn't Qantas exercise its grandfather aero-political rights which are in primary areas?" Mr Clark said.
"Quite frankly, the West Asian-Middle-Eastern market (is) potent for us, as the trans-Pacific is for Qantas."
Emirates did not have access to the trans-Pacific but Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon did, he said. "Why does it always have to be the Kangaroo route?" Mr Clark said, adding that Qantas had "a lot going for them".
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Mr Clark's comments counter Mr Dixon's warnings about unfair advantages government-owned hub carriers enjoy against privately owned airlines. Qantas has used this argument in lobbying the Government to block Singapore Airlines' bid to enter the lucrative Australia-Los Angeles route.
Emirates chairman Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum and Mr Clark are to give a presentation to several Coalition MPs today to debunk "myths" about the benefits Emirates enjoys as a government-owned carrier.
"We really want the Government to know that when we came here in '96 that we saw this as just the beginning, and that we are committed to staying here for the long haul. Because Australia in a route grouping is the second-most-profitable and we've done really well here," Mr Clark said.
"We believed right from the start that this was a market that was underserved; we believed that we could add value, we could bring people in."
Emirates was happy with its "very generous" access into Australia, he said. Unlike Singapore Airlines, Emirates would not push for entry to the Sydney-LA route, but Qantas should push for more access overseas.
In response, Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said: "We've been running a successful airline for 85 years, but we thank them for their advice."
Qantas 'still on target to meet forecast'
Qantas has issued a statement saying it will meet profit forecasts for this financial year, moving to quell speculation it could be preparing to issue a downgrade as a result of rising oil prices, softening demand and accounting adjustments.
In a response to talk in the market that the airline could issue a profit downgrade or major write-down as early as tomorrow, Qantas said it "would meet the current market expectations for the 2004-05 financial year".
The airline said it would make an announcement tomorrow to detail accounting changes to be made to adopt Australian equivalents to the International Financial Reporting Standards