Qantas, American Airlines make new bid for transpacific JV

Qantas and American Airlines have come back with a revised application for a transpacific joint venture hoping the Trump Administration will be more receptive.

The two Oneworld carriers pulled out of an initial joint venture application after the US Department of Transportation sought to tentatively block it on concerns raised by Hawaiian Airlines.

It is hoping for second time lucky with Donald Trump now in the White House.

The carriers are seeking anti-trust immunity for a joint business covering routes between the US and Australia and New Zealand.

The joint venture will bring up to $310 million of ‘quality of service benefits’ such as improved connections and possibly lower fares, the application states.

If it is knocked back again American will have to further reduce codesharing with Qantas which could mean Qantas would have to drop its Dallas Fort Worth service from Sydney.

"American has been forced to downgrade its service to Australia and New Zealand, and the parties have stopped codesharing on flights between the United States and Sydney," the DOT filing said.

"These routes rely on codeshare support from each airline’s feeder network via their respective hub cities to be economically viable," American said.