It must be painful for the big brands like Qantas, Singapore and British Airways.  But today provides unequivocal evidence that the center of the aviation world east of the EU is not Hong Kong or Singapore – it is Dubai.

Note the smiles – Mr Clark no doubt thrilled that he and his team have managed to pull off the nearly impossible.  Emirates has put its state on the map in a way its politics never would.  Mr Joyce is smiling too – but for different reasons no doubt. He has stabbed his oneworld partner, British Airways, in the heart.  Qantas traffic through Singapore will reduce as it will through Hong Kong.

As jetBlue's VP Marketing, Marty St George, tweeted this morning "Can't begin to explain how big a deal the Qantas-Emirates deal is…like dumping your GF for you GF's mortal enemy". We couldn't state this any more succinctly.

There is probably a gnashing of teeth in Madrid as the impact of this new relationship sinks in. Of course the other shoe has to drop too – BA was not sleeping at the switch.  We expect to see Singapore try to work with BA now. That way BA can exploit Singapore and Cathay networks to minimize the damage.  The three airlines are all in the same boat as it were.

One more thing- Qantas is the weak sister here. Emirates will start off playing nice but we don't for one second believe this is the end game.  Emirates product is superior to that of Qantas.  Emirates will slowly move as much traffic into its own fleet as it can.  The kangaroo is not looking especially strong now – and it has been such an awesome airline brand for so long.  How can they turn their fortunes around?