On 7 September 2012, Qantas and Emirates applied for authorisation to coordinate their operations pursuant to a Master Coordination Agreement. Under the Master Coordination Agreement Qantas and Emirates will cooperate, for an initial period of ten years, on passenger and freight operations, including:
-planning, scheduling, operating and capacity;
-sales, marketing, advertising, promotion, distribution strategies, reservation priority and pricing (including fares, rebates, incentives and discounts) (for passengers, freight customers and agents);
-connectivity and integration of certain routes;
-codeshare and interline arrangements;
-control of inventories and yield management functions;
-frequent flyer programs;
-all passenger-related aspects to provide a consistent level of service to customers including ground services and lounge access;
-harmonising service and product standards;
-harmonising IT systems;
-joint airport facilities;
-potentially joint offices for sales activities;
-potentially other aspects of operations including ground handling, catering, joint procurement and flight operations;
-where appropriate and mutually agreed, making joint submissions to authorities on operational matters;
-services and activities that are required to facilitate any of the matters referred to above.
The copy of the applications and submission are available by following the links below.
On 20 December 2012 the ACCC issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation to the alliance for five years. A copy of the draft determination is available by following the links below.
A pre-decision conference has been scheduled for 10:30AM, 1 February 2013, in Sydney. In order to finalise arrangements for the conference, any interested party who is yet to register and wishes to attend the conference must advise the ACCC by 2pm, Friday 25 January 2013. Requests to register for the conference should be emailed to adjudication@accc.gov.au. Additional information regarding the pre-decision conference, including the procedures that apply at a pre-decision conference, are available by following the 'Pre-decision Conference' link below.
On 20 December 2012, the applicants applied for interim authorisation to commence the proposed conduct as soon as possible. The ACCC granted interim authorisation on 17 January 2013, on the condition that the conduct for which authorisation is sought is not engaged in for services between Australia and New Zealand. Further information about the decision is available under the 'ACCC decisions' link.
