Airline News
American-Qantas alliance receives interim approval
July 13th 2015
Qantas Airways and American Airlines have received interim approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to deepen their trans-Pacific alliance “because it was likely to lead to additional capacity on the Sydney-Los Angeles route, as well as increased competition and capacity on Sydney-San Francisco”. Read More » The partners have flagged plans to fly from Auckland to Los Angeles as early as next year, in a move that would break Air New Zealand's (Air NZ) highly lucrative hold on the NZ-U.S. route.
Air NZ was dismayed by the interim approval. It said there was "no compelling reason" why the revenue-sharing alliance should begin in time for the busy Christmas holiday season because the airlines had other means, such as code-sharing, under their existing alliance approvals. Qantas has recently placed pressure on Air NZ with the announcement of Jetstar services to regional cities in New Zealand.
American Airlines, which has not flown to Australia since the 1990s, unveiled plans in June to operate daily B777-300ER services between Sydney and Los Angeles from December. It would allow Qantas to redeploy its B747-400s to fly between Sydney and San Francisco, ending the monopoly that United Airlines holds on the route. Their expansion would boost capacity between Australia and the U.S. by 9%.
The ACCC's decision followed an announcement from Air Canada a day earlier, which said the carrier would expand its services to Australia next year with a new thrice-weekly Brisbane-Vancouver B787-8 service from June, which it plans to eventually increase to daily.
Qantas said staff who have agreed to 18-month wage freezes will pocket a one-off bonus as the airline heads towards posting a near $1 billion pre-tax profit this year. About 7,500 Qantas and Jetstar employees, whose new enterprise bargaining agreements have been signed, will receive a one-off bonus of 5% of their base pay. It equates to an average of about A$3,200 ($2,375) each, although higher paid staff, such as pilots, will receive more than those on lower wages.
