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British Airways and Qatar Airways plan a JV to Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth

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British Airways and Qatar Airways have submitted a request to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to form a joint venture on nine routes to Australia from the UK.

Sydney is NOT included – I think both airlines know that such a request would be thrown out as damaging to competition.  Instead, it will cover the following routes:

  • Adelaide – Manchester
  • Adelaide – London
  • Canberra – London

  • Melbourne – London
  • Melbourne – Edinburgh
  • Melbourne – Manchester
  • Perth – London
  • Perth – Edinburgh
  • Perth – Manchester

What is a little odd about this joint venture is that British Airways brings virtually nothing to the party EXCEPT for its brand.  Apart from the BA flight to Doha, every other flight in the joint venture will be operated by Qatar Airways.

At present, anyone looking to travel from London to Adelaide would be routed on British Airways to Sydney and then onto a Qantas codeshare.  British Airways believes it can make more money by filtering passengers onto a Qatar Airways flight in Doha.  As this is a joint venture, rather than just a codeshare, British Airways should make more money.

There would be very little obvious difference if the joint venture was approved.  There may be some retiming of flights so that connection times in Doha are minimised.  British Airways Executive Club status members would receive a tier bonus on the Qatar Airways service from Doha, which is not currently offered.  Apart from that …. little changes.

This doesn’t mean that approval for the joint venture is a given, of course, since it reduces competition into the four Australian cities.  It may also raise questions over the future of the British Airways Sydney service, with many potential passengers planning to connect onwards now siphoned off via Doha instead.

You can find out more on the ACCC website here.

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Category

British Airways and Avios, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (149)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • A270 says:
    25 Jan25 January 19:09

    OT: When you book a hotel room with Amex Platinum Travel (not a FHR one) do you pay full amount now? I am unlikely to be keeping my Platinum card by the time I stay but will have some other Amex.
    Also, do you get your hotel points of you book through Amex travel?

  • Don says:
    25 Jan25 January 20:23

    Revolut have told me tonight that they expect VISA to work from next week without a fee and no longer a money transfer.

  • Riccatti says:
    26 Jan26 January 09:56

    And if you were the early Curve adopter, you would enjoy charging to Amex with no fees whatsoever.

    Last year Curve tried to re-introduce Amex, exactly in the same format as HMRC payments: subject to limits and Metal subscription/fees but Amex stopped that in its roots completely.

  • sunguy says:
    27 Jan27 January 01:44

    I’m probably wrong – and this is just me making things up…BUT…..

    The only feasible way I can see for the complete annihilation of half-working BA apps, for something that when even compared to a chocolate teapot – the teapot seems a more useful item, is that the IT team have been outsourced (which is generally true in BA these days) and that the previous app which was developed in-house can no longer be supported by such and such a date – has to be written from the ground up by the new outsourced dev team or there will be penalties, etc.

    This is the only way I can see such an abomination of applications being sent out the door….making zero sence….except in BAs coffers for IT.

    • Rob says:
      27 Jan27 January 07:24

      Apparently the iPad app was not secure but BA was unwilling to remove it from the App Store entirely – hence the fudge.

  • BlueHorizonuk says:
    27 Jan27 January 11:52

    I think the HEX app gives the BA one a run for its money. Just awful and completely destroyed from earlier versions.

  • Kerry Kenton-Clarke says:
    11 Feb11 February 10:29

    I just experienced the ‘upgraded’ BA app – problems retrieving boarding pass at security, problems retrieving boarding pass to enter the lounge and, worst of all, couldn’t retrieve the boarding pass at all at the gate resulting in agent having to locate me on the computer to allow me to board which, as I happened to be first in line, also meant a queue of priority pax behind me getting impatient. Congrats BA!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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