US/ Australia: Qantas in new push for joint venture with AA

American Airlines Group and Qantas Airways are making a second attempt at gaining US regulatory permission for a joint venture that would allow them to coordinate prices and schedules, threatening to cancel services if they are rejected.

The pair’s application for a joint venture covering the United States, Australia and New Zealand was rejected in 2016 under the Obama administration amid opposition from rival carriers Hawaiian Airlines Inc and JetBlue Airways.

The airlines have asked the US Department of Transportation a second time to approve a joint venture with antitrust immunity in their bid to deepen ties on flights across the Pacific.

Rejection could mean the end of Qantas’s marathon 17-hour Sydney-Dallas service, which requires a codeshare arrangement with American to be financially viable, the Australian carrier said in a statement Tuesday, February 27. The airlines argue that a knockback by the regulator would force them to reduce codesharing and focus only on what’s profitable for their own network.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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