ACCC plans to renew Qantas - AA joint business agreement

By Andrew Curran.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) plans to approve a new agreement between Qantas and American Airlines to continue coordinating their operations between and within Australia and the United States, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico.

The ACCC issued its draft determination late last week, saying the new agreement would likely benefit the travelling public through improved products and services, including new frequencies and destinations, increased and better online connections, improved scheduling and greater loyalty program benefits.

The two airlines, both members of the oneworld alliance, have had a metal-neutral joint business agreement in effect since 2011, with the ACCC renewing it every five years since. It last did so in 2021. The competition watchdog now says it proposes to green light an updated agreement for a further five years.

Specifically, the joint business agreement allows the two airlines to coordinate schedules and inventory; manage capacity; share revenue; pursue cost-reduction efforts and synergies; set tariffs; engage in joint marketing; and share certain information, including some details of each airline’s commercial relationships with other airlines.

Funnelling passengers beyond international gateway cities

Australia and the United States have an open skies agreement, giving carriers from both countries unrestricted capacity on Australia–United States routes. However, it applies to international routes only. Qantas cannot, for example, pick up passengers in Los Angeles (LAX) and fly them to New York (JFK), while American Airlines cannot pick up passengers in Melbourne (MEL) and fly them to Adelaide (ADL).

As a result, Qantas relies on American Airlines to fly its passengers to points in the United States beyond its gateway airports of Los Angeles, San Francisco (SFO), Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) and New York (JFK), while American Airlines relies on Qantas to do the same in Australia.

According to Cirium Diio data, Qantas will provide roughly 45% of the anticipated 1,582,203 seats available in the Australia – United States country pair across calendar 2026, with American Airlines providing around 9% of the available seats.

American Airlines flies to Sydney (SYD) from Los Angeles and to Brisbane (BNE) from Dallas Fort Worth. Schedules vary due to various factors over the course of the year, but at the height of the upcoming Southern Hemisphere 2026/27 summer, American will operate daily B777-300ER flights to and from Sydney and daily B787-9 flights to and from Brisbane. In calendar 2025, the airline deployed 296,814 seats on the Australia – United States country pair.

Qantas has a substantially larger presence on the country pair, operating the following services, with seasonal variations and occasional frequency tweaks throughout the year.

• Daily A330-200 round-trips on the Brisbane - Los Angeles city pair; 
• Up to six weekly round-trips on the Sydney - Honolulu (HNL) city pair;
• Daily A380-800 round-trips on the Sydney - Dallas Fort Worth and Sydney - Los Angeles city pairs; 
• Thrice-weekly B787-9 round-trips on the Sydney - San Francisco city pair;
• Up to five weekly round-trips on the Sydney - New York (via Auckland (AKL)) city pair;
• Daily B787-9 round-trips on the Melbourne - Los Angeles city pair; 
• Four weekly B787-9 round-trips on the Melbourne - Dallas Fort Worth city pair; and
• Thrice-weekly seasonal B787-9 round-trips on the Sydney - Las Vegas (LAS) city pair.

All up, across calendar 2025, Qantas deployed 1,359,495 seats on its flights between Australia and the United States.

Qantas says the joint business agreement benefits everybody

Qantas describes its joint business agreement with American Airlines as “deeply integrated” and say it has consistently delivered, and will continue to deliver, substantial benefits for Australian consumers and the Australian economy.

“Joint businesses are the hallmark of pro-competitive cooperation in the airline industry globally,” its initial submission says.

“Joint businesses, such as the Qantas – American Airlines agreement, are necessary and invaluable because no one international airline acting alone can serve all the destinations that consumers want to travel to across the globe.”

The ACCC is accepting submissions on its draft determination until September 17, 2026. To date, no parties have objected to the arrangements. Barring that changing, the ACCC is expected to issue its final determination next month.

Photo: Qantas.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com