Qantas, American get green light for joint venture
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Qantas and American Airlines have received final approval from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to commence their trans-Pacific joint business agreement (JBA), which will allow the carriers to coordinate services between the US, Australia and New Zealand.
The oneworld alliance partners will now begin working together on several new initiatives related to their trans-Pacific services. This will include the alignment of flight schedules, frequencies and connection times, joint pricing initiatives and new fare products, joint marketing strategies and combined FFP benefits.
The JBA is also intended to create a more streamlined offering for corporate customers and travel agents, and to offer the ability to coordinate the sale holiday packages.
“The final approval by the DOT will allow American and Qantas to enhance customer service and travel options for our customers flying between North America and Australia and New Zealand,” said Virasb Vahidi, American’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Qantas is a long-standing and highly valued partner, and together we are supporting each other’s strategic objectives by providing an unparalleled global network for our customers.”
“The launch of Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) services has opened up unprecedented access to North America for Qantas customers through codeshares with American Airlines,” said Qantas Group Executive – Commercial, Rob Gurney. “With approval for our joint business agreement, both carriers can now work even more closely together on strategic initiatives that will benefit our customers in both markets.”
In May 2011, Qantas began flying from Sydney to American’s DFW hub as a key initiative supporting the launch of the JBA. Qantas will increase its Sydney-DFW service to six flights per week in January 2012 and to daily in July 2012.