Qantas Airways Limited and China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited
On 31 July 2020 Qantas Airways Limited & China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited and their related bodies corporate applied for revocation of conditional authorisations A91470 and A91474 and substitution for a new authorisation for similar conduct, administered through an Extended Joint Coordination Agreement until March 2022.
The Extended Joint Coordination Agreement would permit Qantas and China Eastern Airlines to continue their alliance and coordinate on operations between Australia and mainland China beyond 31 October 2020, when authorisations A91470 and A91474 are due to expire.
The applicants have requested that the new authorisation issue without conditions requiring the maintenance or growth of flight capacity during the authorisation period (which was a condition imposed by the ACCC in authorisations A91470 and A91474) due to the current and future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The applicants submit that seeking a short term extension of the current alliance gives them the best and fastest ability to restore confidence and sustainable services to consumers and businesses of both Australia and China in the short-medium term after the COVID-19 pandemic eases, whilst also providing the certainty to plan and implement other customer benefits in the long term. The applicants current intention is to then seek a further extension of the authorisation beyond 2022 in the future.
The applicants have also sought urgent interim authorisation to facilitate the immediate planning and coordination of services that will be operated after 31 October 2020.
The ACCC invites submissions by 28 August 2020. Submissions on the application for interim authorisation should be provided by 19 August 2020. Further information about providing a submission to the ACCC is available from the ACCC's Initial Consultation Letter under the Correspondence heading below.