Qantas eyes new US routes

Qantas is planning to expand US services with the introduction of new Boeing Co. long-range planes to bolster its budding partnership with American Airlines. The two carriers last year struck a joint-venture alliance to more closely cooperate, which covers service such as Qantas’s new service from Sydney to San Francisco and American’s Los Angeles to Sydney route. “We couldn’t be more pleased with how the partnership has started off. The chemistry between the two airlines is very good,” Qantas CE Alan Joyce said. American this month will add a new Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand service that also will fall under the joint venture. The airlines partnership has won backing from Australian and New Zealand regulators, though the U.S. DoT has yet to sign off, limiting the joint venture’s full implementation. Qantas expects to receive approval around midyear. The airlines are already starting to plan the next phase of their partnership. Qantas next year will start taking delivery of Boeing 787-9 long-range airliners that would enable it to start operating additional routes, particularly on city-pairs with lower demand, Joyce said. A big target is flights into American’s Dallas hub to tap onward connecting traffic. “We are looking at a Melbourne-Dallas route because we are so impressed with how Sydney-Dallas went,” Joyce said. A Brisbane to Dallas service also is on the planning horizon.<br/>