It is reported that the US Dept of Transportation has provided tentative approval of an application by American Airlines and Qantas to operate a joint venture between the USA and Australia / New Zealand.
If granted final approval, the carriers will coordinate their planning, pricing, sales, and frequent flyer activities to offer customers a single proposition on trans-Pacific flights, with new options and customer service enhancements.
This proposed action includes conditions that will protect competition, promote public benefits such as additional flights and increased seat availability, and enable USDOT to monitor the effects of the joint venture for consumers.
Despite that rhetoric, joint ventures (in my opinion) usually decrease competition and eventually impact on the consumers by way of higher fares or limited options for flights. Hopefully I will be proven wrong.
A partnership like this may help protect Qantas jobs.