Speaking on Friday at an investor conference in Sydney, Mr Joyce said the Emirates alliance would deliver ‘‘major benefits over many years’’ but ‘‘right now we are still managing through the transition phase’’.

It includes a $50 million hit to its earnings from shifting its main overseas base from Singapore to Dubai, which Qantas has previously disclosed to the market.

Mr Joyce said sales for travel via the joint Qantas-Emirates network continued to ‘‘perform strongly’’.

‘‘We saw a significant increase in bookings to Europe on the joint network in the first nine weeks of sales, compared to the same period last year, which we knew reflected some pent-up demand,’’ he said.

‘‘As we predicted, we are also seeing aggressive short term responses from our competitors.’’

Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific – the main rivals to Qantas and Emirates – have been reacting to the alliance with more competitive fares on flights to Europe.

Mr Joyce reiterated that Qantas was unable to give a profit forecast for this financial year because of the ‘‘high degree of volatility and uncertainty’’.

Apart from the costs arising from the alliance, Qantas also faces a one-off hit of $25 million in back pay from settling its enterprise bargaining agreement with the long-haul pilots union. It was the last of the disputes with three unions which led to the dramatic grounding of Qantas’s fleet in late 2011.

Shares in Qantas rose 1 per cent to $1.87 on Friday.

Following the launch of the Emirates alliance, which is focused on routes to Europe, investors are turning their attention to Qantas’s plans to improve its performance on routes to Asian destinations.

Mr Joyce tempered investors’ expectations of a strong pick up in its performance in Asia.

‘‘Asia is a long game for us, but we are making all the right moves, and building the long-term partnerships for success,’’ he said.

He pointed to the importance of a recent expansion to Qantas’s code-share agreement with China Eastern, which allowed passengers to choose from 18 direct services to China each week.

Mr Joyce said the airline also faced a ‘‘tough environment’’ in the domestic market from a ‘‘high degree of capacity in the market pushing down yields and profitability’’.

‘‘While we do not expect any improvement this half, capacity growth is alleviating, which will lead to a healthier domestic capacity position [next financial year],’’ he said.