Qantas-Emirates alliance: how Germany, France flights will work

If you're travelling to France or Germany after the Qantas-Emirates alliance comes into effect in April 2013, you'll have a raft of new one-stop flights opening up.

Qantas is axing Frankfurt flights, cutting its ties with Air France and reducing its reliance on British Airways' Heathrow hub as its European connection in favour of flying everyone apart from London-bound travellers through Dubai. In short, it's a new European flight revolution for Australian travellers.

With Emirates, seven German and French cities will have direct flights from Dubai by the time you're flying to Europe via Dubai, with most of the flights taking just under six hours from DXB.

And, of course, you'll have more options flying out of Australia to Dubai from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

That's an improvement on the current situation for Qantas passengers, who have a choice of:

• Qantas and Air France via Singapore to Paris
• Qantas via Singapore to Frankfurt
• Qantas and/or British Airways via Singapore (or, less often, Bangkok/Hong Kong) and London Heathrow

We've broken down how that situation will change for travellers heading to Germany and France.

Germany

Deutschland-bound Australian Qantas loyalists can breathe a sigh of relief: you have other options than the awful Frankfurt Airport, with its kilometres of miserable grey corridors.

Emirates will whisk you to four German destinations:

• Frankfurt three times daily
• Munich twice daily
• Düsseldorf twice daily
• Hamburg twice daily

What you'll find on board can vary widely depending on what plane is on your route. Refer to our illustrated guide to Emirates' business class seats to figure out what you'll be sitting on.

Frankfurt sees two 777-300ER planes and one daily A340-300 (EK043/044).

One of Emirates' Munich flights -- EK049/050 -- uses an Airbus A380, so if you're heading to Bavaria on business that's the one to pick. The other daily flight is a 777-300.

Spacious, private, fully flat beds in business class: the reason why you want to take Emirates' A380 if you can.

Düsseldorf flights use a mix of Boeing 777-300ER and 777-200 planes, while Hamburg is all 777-300ER.

But aficionados of the A380's super-comfortable business class seats -- not to mention its business class bar -- heading to northern Germany might also consider flying into Amsterdam on the EK147/148 superjumbo return service.

From there, it's a quick hop on one of the excellent international trains from the Netherlands into Germany.

Business class bar to while away the flight to Europe? We say "oui", or possibly "ja".

France

Emirates runs three daily return flights to Paris' Charles de Gaulle, with one -- the EK073/074 flight -- on the airline's Airbus A380 superjumbo.

Flights to the southern city of Nice are also on offer, with a daily flight from Dubai on an Airbus A340.

The airline will will also run five weekly flights (not Thursdays or Sundays) to France's second economic powerhouse, Lyon, starting in December and using an Airbus A340 plane.

If you happen to need to head to Lyon on a Thursday or Sunday -- or to other French cities -- there's no hardship in connecting on one of France's excellent TGV high-speed trains via the airport station at Paris Charles de Gaulle. Lyon also has a TGV station right at the airport.

With Air France's domestic flights network out of the Qantas picture, we expect more business travellers to use the TGV. Find out everything you need to know about the TGV in AusBT's tip-laden guide!

Read more: Australian Business Traveller's comprehensive coverage of the Qantas-Emirates deal includes...

• "Camelroo" 101: the basics of the groundbreaking new Qantas-Emirates alliance.
• Emirates Skywards frequent flyers earn tier points on all Qantas flights, while Qantas Frequent Flyers earn tier points on codeshare flights, with reciprocal lounge arrangements and other perks also on offer.
• What you'll find on board Emirates' flights -- and how they compare to Qantas -- in business class, Emirates's swanky first class, and down the back in economy class.
• How the Qantas-Emirates hookup -- and the Qantas-BA breakup -- will revolutionise business travellers' options for flying to the UK.
• Singapore changes from Qantas' main hub for Europe into an Asian destination in its own right: new flights, timings and more.

For more on the new Qantas-Emirates alliance, and how it'll affect your travel, follow us on Twitter: we're @AusBT. 

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.