The real reason for the QF/EK alliance (from the QF point of view) is... the FF program. A fabulously profitable business almost invisible to the outside world, and which now has seen off any threat of EK establishing a significant FF program in Oz.
In part this is correct. Frequent Flyer businesses are entirely dependent on the airline itself. Revenue can be generated from point sales to corporate entities, but ultimately the 'business' of the repeat customer is entirely contingent upon the airlines itself having 'seats' to redeem.
In accounting for the frequent flyer business airlines basically sell a seat at marginal cost, that would probably fly empty.
In October 2011 (two odd weeks before the grounding) Alan and Qantas signaled their surrender of Qantas International, as they had already established a 'decline narrative' to suit their industrial campaign.
The problem for Qantas with little international network remaining after the changes requested of the International Air Services Commission, was that a rush of point redemptions by frequent flyers would not only place a huge squeeze on revenue and remaining asset valuations but further destabilise the already precarious position Qantas put itself in.
The amount of points held by Qantas members is ever growing, accumulated largely through domestic flights, to be usually redeemed in exchange for a seat(s) on international flights.
Put simply it is stupid to expect people join frequent flyer program to get cheap groceries. Ever wonder why Woolworths and QAN had a frequent flyer redemption? Qantas needed, in light of its shrinking network to have alternatives to get rid of points.
You will see it increasingly difficult to redeem points for a seat, there will be further dilutions of redemption value as the points liability continues to grow and the 'game changing' 787 (already 600 operating-not sure what is going to not have already changed?) will
remove additional capacity from the market as 787 replace 744 one for one.
Perhaps as such, skywards is the only way to burn off a points balance and actually go somewhere. The key to whether it actually benefits the Qantas 'group' accounts and with the changes announced in Australia with respect to credit cards it is likely that the EK alternative may be a way to get a seat.
The issue remains as the title of the thread implies is that Qantas never made a dollar from the hastily cobbled together EK 'partnership'. They know it and I can certainly attest their competitors knew it all along.