oneworld

American Airlines, which in June 2015 asked the US government for permission to expand its existing alliance with Australia's Qantas, on Monday withdrew its application, 10 days after the US DoT tentatively ruled that the plan would harm competition in the US-Australasia market. American, which already code-shares and offers frequent-flier reciprocity with Qantas, had hoped to win antitrust immunity to deepen and expand the relationship into a revenue-sharing joint venture. Delta has such an arrangement with Virgin Australia Airlines, and United Continental with Air New Zealand. But the US government said the proposed partnership would account for nearly 60% of US-to-Australia seats and enjoy the largest market share on nearly 200 routes. The DOT also questioned the proposed alliance's public benefits and gave the pair two weeks to respond to its findings. "We remain very disappointed in the decision," American said in a statement. "It represents a significant departure from prior DOT decisions, which have long recognised the pro-competitive benefits of combining complementary international networks." The existing, more limited cooperation will continue between American and Qantas, said American. In a statement, Qantas said regulators in Australia and New Zealand already approved the deal and found it would deliver significant consumer benefits. Qantas said it and American will now separately assess their positions before deciding what they will do next.<br/>

Perth Airport's CE denies he is at war with Qantas over plans to run direct flights to Europe but says the airline needs to firm up its commitment to the service before any commercial agreement can be reached. Qantas wants the non-stop service to operate out of a domestic terminal, rather than the new international terminal, to make it easier for passengers with connecting flights. But the airport says that would require major upgrades to the domestic terminal at a cost of about $40m. Airport CE Kevin Brown said discussions with the airline were progressing, and no options had been ruled out. "In terms of some of the headlines we're 'at war with Qantas', we're not," Brown said. "We're in dialogue with Qantas in a discussion to look at a sensible outcome. There's a number of operational and commercial factors that play through in that arena." One of those factors was the lack of quarantine and Australian Border Force infrastructure at the domestic terminals. "To process international passengers requires many other bodies," Brown said. "We're still working with those bodies, as are Qantas, to find a way to effectively duplicate those services." Brown said current negotiations with Qantas were only around a single service from Perth to London, but he would like to see a commitment to additional services to other major European cities.<br/>