Alaska Airlines and its regional airline affiliates Horizon Air and SkyWest Airlines have applied to the US DoT for permission to codeshare with its Oneworld partner, Spain’s Iberia. In a DOT filing published on 31 August, the three US carriers say their application is for domestic US flights and some flights to Latin America, but could at a later date extend to more of the airlines’ international routes. “The Joint Applicants’ flights will initially connect Iberia’s flights serving the United States with other points in the United States and points in Mexico and Costa Rica … but may later add other points on Alaska’s domestic and international route network,” the filing reads. The airlines’ application includes a list of 79 routes to west-coast gateways Los Angeles International airport and San Francisco International airport for which it is asking permission to add the codeshare. “Grant of the joint applicants’ application is in the public interest because it will benefit consumers by providing additional travel options between the EU, the US and third countries,” the carriers write. “The codeshare services proposed in this application will also enhance the joint applicants’ and Iberia’s ability to compete in these markets.”<br/>
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Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary gave a downbeat assessment of the short-haul subsidiary BA may create, questioning in particular its choice of London’s Gatwick airport as a hub. The WSJ reported last week that BA was considering folding its short-haul operations at Gatwick into a new unit. The company said it was working on options for the operations to curb costs, but did not specify what its proposals were. O’Leary said he did not hold out much hope for what he described as British Airways’ umpteenth go at creating a low-cost carrier. “If you were going to open up a low-cost carrier, the one airport in London you wouldn’t go to would be Gatwick,” he said, adding it was London’s second most expensive airport. “If you’re going to open up a low-cost carrier, you’d go to Stansted or Luton or Southend, which has lots of cheap, low-cost and underused facilities,” he said. O’Leary said the company would fare better pocketing a lot of money by selling Gatwick slots to the likes of Wizz Air or easyJet.<br/>
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has again suggested that Qantas will secure “at least” a 70% share of the domestic market, despite Virgin in March knocking the Flying Kangaroo down to a 67% share. Joyce said, “We’ll have 70 % domestic share at least, a lot better than we had pre-COVID – that’s where we make the bulk of our money.” He made the comment after suggesting that come Christmas, Qantas will be “back domestically to over 100% of pre-COVID schedule”. “Actually, for the second half of the [financial] year, from January to June, we’re forecasting 110 per cent so we’ll be bigger domestically,” Joyce added. The comments come despite Virgin already sending Qantas’ domestic market share down below 70% in March, as all airlines enjoyed strong domestic demand prior to the current Delta outbreak in Sydney and Melbourne.<br/>