Qantas has no regrets over Etihad divorce

In an interview with Flightglobal, Qantas Airways chief executive Alan Joyce said "Any deeper partnership with Etihad would have been competing against... very important partnerships and very important aspirations. "

Qantas' partnership with Etihad covered Australia-Middle East traffic only. Etihad chief executive James Hogan cited the limited market and other restrictions when he ended the Qantas partnership to align with Virgin Blue. The Etihad-Virgin Blue alliance covers global destinations, in particular Europe. Joyce says cooperation on those European routes would have conflicted with Qantas' long-established partners and growth plans.

In the interview Joyce said Qantas considered flying to Abu Dhabi with a range of aircraft but the route "was not going to be profitable for us". He did not elaborate on how Virgin Blue would make the route profitable. "We've got our partnerships and they're going to be pretty successful," he said.