Qantas is putting the next stage of its historic hookup with Emirates in place this week as bookings for Sydney-Dubai-London (QF1/QF2) and Melbourne-Dubai-London (QF9/QF10) go online for travel from 31 March 2013.
The revised Kangaroo Route will hop over its traditional Singapore base, landing instead at Emirates middle-eastern hub.
Both flights will run on the Red Roo's flagship Airbus A380.
The daily QF1 will depart Sydney at 4.05pm, arriving into Dubai at 12.35am. After a 90 minute stopover, travellers will bid farewell to Dubai at 2.05am and hello to London at 6.35am.
Qantas says the Melbourne-Dubai-London QF9 flight will be wheels up from Melbourne at 3.30pm, landing in Dubai at 10.30pm, then begin the second leg of the journey at 1.10am to reach London at 5.40am.
Read: What the Qantas-Emirates alliance means for London and UK travel
Frankfurt stays until October 2013
Qantas has also revealed that it will retain its services to Frankfurt via Singapore to October 2013, as well as codesharing on British Airways flights from Singapore to London.
New flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Singapore are also being introduced – click here for all the details.
The revised timetable comes as the ACCC considers the proposed Qantas-Emirates partnership, which remains subject to regulatory approval.
In a statement issued to the media, Qantas said "today’s schedule changes do not involve coordination between the airlines and do not require ACCC approval."
"By releasing our schedules now, travellers can book their trips beyond March 2013 with confidence based on the new Qantas international route map" says Simon Hickey, CEO of Qantas International.
Qantas will start initial work with Emirates on its proposed partnership from today, following discussions with the ACCC and withdrawal of the airline’s request for interim authorisation. The ACCC is now considering the airlines’ substantive application for authorisation.
Qantas says it will will contact passengers whose existing bookings to Europe or the UK after 31 March 2013 are affected by these changes, and offer them alternative flights. Customers with bookings prior to this date are not impacted by the change.
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About David Flynn
David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.











1 on 4/10/12 by jordanmyer-smith