Australian flag carrier Qantas has announced that it has applied to domestic regulatory bodies to form a joint venture with Japan Airlines (JAL), media reports said. Qantas has submitted an application for authorisation to regulators in Australia as well as New Zealand. A decision is expected within six months.
If approved, the joint venture with Japan Airlines would help Qantas revive its international operations and weather the Covid-19 storm which has brought havoc in the aviation industry. It is reported that Qantas customers would have access to 14 new codeshare destinations in Japan, whereas, Japan Airlines’ customers would have access to 15 new codeshare destinations in Australia and New Zealand.
Qantas Group chief executive officer Alan Joyce told the media, “Around half a million people visited Australia from Japan in 2019. We want to see that tourism resume and grow even further by making it easier for Japanese travellers to visit. It will be a win for our customers, a win for trade and a win for the one million people who work in tourism across Australia.”
Last month, it was reported that the Japanese government is mulling merging both All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines to help the carrier survive the Covid-19 crisis. South Korean aviation giants Korean Air and Asiana announced a similar plan to merge their businesses in order to sustain their operations. Both ANA and Japan Airlines are in need of government aid to weather the Covid-19 storm, and hence a merger would make sense for the carriers.