The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has just issued the final determination over the alliance between Qantas and Emirates.
The alliance, involving wide-ranging coordination of the carriers’ passenger and cargo operations and other related services, has been approved until 31 March 2018.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the commission considered that public benefits are likely to ensue, through enhanced product and service offerings as well as improved operating efficiency.
“In particular, the alliance is likely to provide Qantas and Emirates customers with increased access to a large number of existing frequencies and destinations under a single airline code, improved connectivity and scheduling, and access to each alliance partner’s frequent flyer programs,” he said.
“The alliance is also likely to provide the airlines with increased flexibility to manage their fleet…taking all of this together, the ACCC is satisfied that the alliance is likely to result in material, but not substantial, public benefits,” Sims added.
On the trans-Tasman, the ACCC is concerned that QF and EK compete on four routes which accounted for around 65% of total Australia-NZ passenger capacity.
To address this concern, a condition of the authorisation requires the carriers “to maintain at least their pre-alliance aggregated capacity on the four overlapping trans-Tasman routes”.
The alliance can now kick off as planned from this Sun 31 March 2013.
More information in today’s Travel Daily.