QANTAS and Air New Zealand are wrong to suggest Emirates is capacity dumping and should not use its services to New Zealand as an excuse to join forces on the Tasman, the Dubai-based carrier says.

The two Australasian carriers have pointed to increased competition on the Tasman by Pacific Blue and overseas carriers as a reason for allowing them to enter into a code-sharing agreement that would jointly give them 75 per cent of the market....

...The aircraft type used on the route is a function of the originating service from Dubai. Commercial realities underpin Emirates' business and route planning - for instance, last year, Emirates withdrew its Melbourne-Christchurch service as the route was no longer commercially viable."

The spokesman pointed to the most recent Bureau of Transport & Regional Economics study which showed Emirates' passenger loads on the routes were improving, with inbound load factors at 48.2 per cent and outbound at 57.3 per cent....