Qantas’ joint venture with American Airlines (AA), pending a final decision from the US Department of Transportation (DOT), will better serve customers flying between Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
According to ETB Travel News, final approval of the partnership will allow Qantas and AA to deliver new routes and offer significant benefits, such as:
- new routes and flights to new destinations, including to city pairs not currently served by either carrier
- expanded codeshare enabling more connections to more destinations
- reduced total travel time
- better access to seats on each carrier’s network
- lower fares
- additional frequent flyer benefits, including higher earn rates for points on each other’s networks, increased redemption opportunities and improved reciprocal recognition of top-tier frequent flyers
- co-location at airports, investments in lounges, baggage systems and other infrastructure.
Qantas and AA intend to launch several new routes within the first two years of the proposed joint business, with two new Qantas routes – Brisbane-Chicago and Brisbane-San Francisco – expected to be implemented immediately after approval.
“As was evident in the unprecedented level of public support for this application, the joint business will also create additional jobs at our respective companies and in the industries we serve,” said Doug Parker, American’s chairman and CEO.
“We thank Secretary Chao and the DOT for their careful consideration and look forward to final approval in the coming weeks.”
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said: “Both airlines submitted a compelling proposal to the DOT that would bring significant benefits to millions of travellers and a boost to tourism.
“For more than 30 years, Qantas and American have connected the US and Australia as partners. This joint business means that we’ll be able to deepen this partnership to offer new routes, better flight connections and more frequent-flyer benefits.”
The final decision from the DOT is expected in the next few weeks.
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