Qantas gets booking boost from Emirates March 31, 2013 - 4:30PM Qantas sold six times more tickets to Europe in the past nine weeks as part of its partnership with Emirates than it did in the same time last year. While the Qantas-Emirates alliance only received final approval from the competition watchdog last Wednesday, Qantas has been selling tickets for flights to Europe via Emirates' Dubai hub since late January. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says he is encouraged by the response of the travelling public. "Those booking levels are a great first sign," Mr Joyce told reporters at Sydney Airport on Sunday. They show that people feel that the one-stop options that we are now providing into Europe make us truly competitive and it is great that we have seen such a great uplift. We still think there is a lot of demand but certainly the reaction from all our stakeholders - our customers, our shareholders and employees - have been absolutely amazing. Moreover, bookings from Emirates passengers for travel on Qantas's domestic network over the past nine weeks was almost seven times higher when compared with the same time in 2012. The alliance officially kicked off on Sunday with Qantas's first flights to London via Dubai taking off from Sydney and Melbourne. The two carriers plan to codeshare, and coordinate on sales, marketing and pricing on flights between Australia and Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The boost to Qantas' European sales comes despite figures which show the Flying Kangaroo's ticket prices for destinations such Amsterdam and Manchester were up to hundreds of dollars more expensive than for the same flights booked with Emirates. Emirates president Tim Clark said the two carriers have only just started the process of aligning fares, following Australian Competition and Commission approval. "We have only just got the approval to actually start aligning fares," Mr Clark said. We couldn't even contemplate that beforehand. To mark the Flying Kangaroo's inaugural flight to Dubai and the partnership with Emirates, a Qantas and Emirates A380 side by side over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge on Sunday morning.