Responding to Australia’s International Air Services Commission’s (IASC) request for more information on its pending codeshare with Cathay Pacific, Qantas has sought to reassure regulators that the new agreement would not harm competition and instead offer travellers more choice for travel between Australia and Asia.
Qantas group executive for government, industry, international and sustainability Andrew Parker told the IASC the proposal represented “a pro-competitive expansion of each carrier’s ability to sell and market itineraries and will not substantially lessen competition on any relevant market”.
“While the arrangements encourage the parties to maximise passenger convenience and service, both carriers will continue to aggressively compete against each other on all routes (whether covered by the codeshare or not),” Parker wrote in his submission.
“The relationship between Qantas and Cathay is, and will remain, arms-length and does not involve any form of price, sales, capacity or schedule coordination.”
The two airlines announced plans to begin codesharing on some of each other’s flights in September 2018.