Qantas Airways Limited and American Airlines Group Inc. - Revocation and Substitution - A91502 & A91503

On 10 June 2015 Qantas Airways Limited and American Airlines Inc and their related bodies corporate (the Applicants) sought reauthorisation for an expanded Joint Business Agreement (JBA) for a period of 10 years. Under the expanded JBA, the airlines propose to continue to coordinate their operations on the trans-Pacific, including coordination in respect of marketing and sales, freight, pricing, scheduling, distribution strategies including agency arrangements, yield and inventory management, frequent flyer programs, lounges, joint procurement and product and service standards.

The ACCC previously granted authorisation for similar arrangments in September 2011 for a period of 5 years. However, reauthorisation has been sought of the expanded JBA, which has been redesigned to take account of recent developments, including the planned commencement of services by American Airlines between Los Angeles and Sydney from December 2015.

The Applicants also sought urgent interim authorisation to facilitate the introduction of a new service between Sydney and Los Angeles operated by American Airlines and a new joint service between Sydney and San Francisco operated by Qantas. On 9 July 2015, the ACCC granted interim authorisation.

On 25 February 2016 the ACCC issued a determination re-authorising the arrangements for a further five years until 18 March 2021.