Qantas and American Airlines are to forge closer commercial ties as part of a plan to expand their existing joint venture.
The two airlines, which are both members of the Oneworld alliance and have been operating a JV for four years, will introduce a revenue share agreement on routes across the Pacific, subject to securing regulatory approval in both the US and Australia.
Qantas is also to resume flights between Sydney and San Francisco – a route the airline last operated in 2011. While American will launch a new route from Los Angeles to Sydney, which will be the airline’s first route to Australia for more than 20 years. Both routes are scheduled to start in December 2015.
American’s new daily service, which will use a new Boeing B777-300ER aircraft on the route, will replace four Qantas Boeing 747 Sydney-LA services per week and one Qantas B747 Melbourne-LA flight per week.
Qantas will continue operating Airbus A380 flights to LA from both Sydney and Melbourne, as well as B747 flights between Brisbane and LA. Both airlines will codeshare across all these flights.
Alan Joyce, Qantas’ CEO, said: “American Airlines is one of our most important alliance partners, and this deal strengthens the long-standing ties between us to provide a platform for future growth across the Pacific.”
American Airlines’ CEO Doug Parker added: “Strengthening those ties has provided us with a solid foundation to introduce American-operated flights into the Australian region.
“Our customers have asked us to expand to important business markets across the Pacific, and flying our flagship aircraft, the Boeing 777-300ER, to Sydney will provide another world-class travel experience from our key gateway at LAX (Los Angeles International).”