Does anyone have any thoughts about QF' continued interest in Oneworld (OW) in light of the news of a tie up with EK?

Does anyone have any thoughts about QF' continued interest in Oneworld (OW) in light of the news of a tie up with EK? I just don't see EK's as a member of OW (Its too big and too much of a lone wolf to be part of an alliance). Further IAG (Willie Walsh) seems more keen on Qatar Airways joining OW. Any thoughts?

QF EK tie up seems counter intuitive in the larger scheme of things!

Interesting point.. Just finished reading the article just now and similiar questions popped into my mind. We all know QF has been talking to a number of the airlines over the period of time. You cant help think that with QF bleeding in its international arm and being a part of OW that a different strategy needs to take place. With the relationship of Virgin and Etihad its time to finish there talk walk the walk what ever that path maybe.:-)

I would be surprised if QF walked away from OneWorld especially as they are a founding member.

Just having a code-share agreeement with EK doesn't need to impact their OW membership anyway... QF have code sharing with Vietnam Airlines which is a Skyteam member. So I don't think there is too much relevance, at least for the time being.

They also have a codeshare with Air France which is skyteam.

I think that they are a founding member is irrelevant. My concern is what this means for the alliance, because the main alliance partners are BA, AA, CX, and to a lesser extent QF. BA is struggling financially, AA is technically bankrupt. Oneworld is also the only alliance to not have a Chinese airline. CX and QF rarely codeshare and seem to hate each other. Now that QF seems to be diversifying away from oneworld, the alliance is weaker still. It only takes CX to join up with Skyteam and the whole alliance will collapse. Maybe this is not likely in the short term, but possible. And more possible in the medium term. 

Qantas will not leave Oneworld.  This tie up will give QF a better foothold into Europe, Africa and the Middle East, without the cost of operation.  I agree that EK will not join Oneworld and Qatar would probably be a better fit for Oneworld.  Don't be suprised if Qatar and Qantas have a limited code share arrangement as well.  It also looks as if Malaysia wants a JV with QF, which will give QF a strong foothold in Asia as well.

I think Emirates have no need of Oneworld otherwise they would have joined already. I think they would see the benefits of joining an alliances as being tilted in favour of existing members. For the same reason I think the largest 3 middle eastern airlines, emirates, etihad, and qatar have not joined any of the major alliances.

As far as I understand Malaysia is still on track to join oneworld

I think its clear that Qantas needs an alliance with an airline like Emirates. What does not make sense to me is the need for Qantas by Emirates. With a large majority of people living in the major coastal cities of Australia, of which Emirates already flies to, the rationale for a feeder network into the Australian interior seems irrelevant.

Australia's population dispersion is not the same as the United States.

It doesn't seem logical to me.

Emirates want to be the biggest airline in the world and although they may not need to form a partnership with Qantas, the fact that Qantas has such an extensive domestic network in Australia is very attractive to Emirates as it means that they can have code share arrangements on domestic flights here.

The QF EK tie up is very counterintuitive, at least from the perspective of the greater oneworld alliance.

However, it'd be very beneficial to QF as it'd expand their european network substantially (without having to connect within europe itself). They could then concentrate (and potentially withdraw from LHR and FRA) on the Asian markets which have tremendous growth. The QF/BA relationship has declined recently due to the fierce competition on the Kangaroo route, so a new European partner would be of great interest.

In terms of Qatar, BA/IB would benefit from it's introduction to oneworld due to its connections in Europe and Asia, while QF would experience limited benefits due to Qatar's limited service to Australia (in comparison to other Middle Eastern carriers).

American and airberlin both codeshare with Etihad, so its already fairly confusing.

The GhettoIFE blog has a good rundown on this...

boardingarea.com/blogs/ghettoife/2012/07/25/qantas-to-throw-in-the-londonfrankfurt-towel-and-tie-up-with-emirates

Alliances in general have a lot questions to their true validity especially to passengers, with most airlines starting separate agreements with airlines that are not in their alliance, but are very valid for their specific needs

QF almost have more codeshare agreements with non OW carriers AF VN SA MU 9W AS OZ, than they do within OW.

OW has been very strong for QF in relation to AA and BA, although the BA agreement is not as strong as it was, and now they are working closely with LA. However, one of their key partners should be CX but the two airlines are almost hostile to each other - CX would have given them that one stop link from all key Australian cities to CX's key European hub cities, and their China network - it has been a big negative for QF

I dont see any benefit for EK to join OW, QR would make more sense, especially now their extensive agreement with UA is due to end

Ultimately in order to remain an international carrier QF needs to form partnerships that meet their requirements and strategy, and if OW does not meet those requirements then they may leave - whats to say with their size, key geographic location, and financial backing that EK forms its own alliance in the future