Virgin Australia, Alliance Airlines get approval to cooperate on regional routes
Australia’s competition regulator has given approval for Virgin Australia and Alliance Airlines to collaborate on dozens of regional routes.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) gave the green light but only interim approval to cooperate on 41 regional routes.
The ACCC says it expects competition from Qantas or Jetstar on many of the routes which will keep fares down.
The regulator saidi it will serve the public good as it will facilitate Virgin’s return to operaions as a new business under owner Bain Capital.
The ACCC acknowledged there are some potential anti-trust concerns which is why it was approved on an interim basis subject to review.
"The co-operation will allow Virgin Australia and Alliance Airlines to share information, and to agree on service capacity, schedules and potentially revenue sharing on the routes on which they operate, including for new routes not currently serviced by either airline," the ACCC said.
"We acknowledge there is some urgency to this matter. A delay in Virgin Australia fully re-establishing its network, while other airlines are increasing services in response to greater demand as travel restrictions ease, is likely to result in less competitive markets."
"Our preliminary view is that any public detriment resulting from reduced competition between Alliance Airlines and Virgin Australia is likely to be limited, given Alliance Airlines’ limited number of scheduled regular passenger services. We will consider this issue further in the course of our review of the substantive application," it added.
The arrangement will allow the two carriers to collaborate on costs, flight schedules and other operations.
The routes include flights linking regional towns to Brisbane, Alice Springs, Perth Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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