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Japan Airlines and Hawaiian to re-emphasise consumer benefits after U.S. rejects partnership
October 11th 2019
In rare move, U.S. approved the joint venture but denied the airlines anti-trust immunity. Read More »
Japan Airlines (JAL) and Hawaiian Airlines are evaluating strategies to promote the benefits to consumers of their proposed partnership. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) tentatively approved their joint venture (JV) but rejected their application for anti-trust immunity (ATI).
The split outcome severely limits the effectiveness and purpose of the partnership. While they could combine their Asia-Hawaii flights as one business under the JV, they would be unable to utilise the benefits of price coordination and flight scheduling that ATI facilitates.
DOT said it rejected ATI because the two carriers had not demonstrated it would produce significant improvements for consumers. DOT specifically cited Hawaiian’s limited IT platforms.
