Emirates-Qantas JV expands as partnerships become more intricate, while some airlines go it alone

Qantas and Emirates are again evolving global airline alliances and partnerships. Four years after announcing their landmark joint venture, Qantas in late 2016 is expected to disclose additions to the way it serves Europe in partnership with Emirates. The possible changes - a new nonstop London flight, reintroducing an Asian stopover - may seem incremental. There is a significant impact to the many airlines competing in the Europe-Australia market, but the underlying relevance is global.

The expansion of the JV would not be possible without the increased comfort that Emirates and Qantas feel toward each other, and their ability to have intricate models for handling the increasingly complicated partnership and number of hubs involved. JVs are no longer in a binary classification of existence or absence; there is a scale from rudimentary to near-consolidation.

As JVs like Qantas-Emirates become more sophisticated, the basic JVs - or even airlines without - are dearly lacking. There has been a profusion of JVs in recent years, with more on the way, but they have tended to be confined. Partners need to be more comfortable with each other in order to add additional airlines and markets, later consolidating as they stitch together individual partnerships.