Qantas reopens Singapore hub, pursuing yield and focusing on London; now has numerous options

Qantas came to terms long ago with the fact that it cannot dominate foreign markets in size but can have yield quality and a meaningful, if not significant, presence. Since its landmark partnership with Emirates, which took effect in 2013, Qantas has learned more about itself: its European strength really is in London, and a full interchangeable hub in Dubai with Emirates is not possible.

Qantas is renewing its Emirates partnership for five years, but under a vastly different arrangement unlike those of other JVs.

Qantas will exit Emirates' Dubai hub and instead reopen one daily Singapore-London flight supplementing a planned Perth-London nonstop. This will give Qantas better feed from Australia to London, continue to grow its Asian hub, and give passengers more choice: other airlines and partnerships focus on one hub, but Qantas and Emirates will be able to offer European travel via Dubai, Perth and Singapore. That also increases traffic and revenues in the JV, which flows back to Qantas under a revenue sharing deal that has been recalculated, surely in Qantas' favour.