ACCC allows Jetstar Asian brands to continue to coordinate

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) decided (16-Feb-2018) to re-authorise the continued coordination of three Qantas Asian-based JVs: Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Pacific and Jetstar Japan. These airlines are also seeking to coordinate with their shareholding airlines Qantas, Japan Airlines and Vietnam Airlines, on passenger and cargo services within Asia. The decision continues an ACCC authorisation made in 2013. The ACCC stated that by coordinating, the Jetstar-branded airlines are able to operate as a single fully integrated organisation on matters such as flight scheduling, sales and marketing, and pricing, and this "should lead to public benefits, such as better products and services, and more convenient flight times for consumers," said ACCC commissioner Roger Featherston. The ACCC believes their coordination is "likely to result in little, if any, lessening of competition" and the JV airlines would be unlikely to compete directly with each other or their owners in the absence of the proposed coordination. The re-authorisation does not extend to allowing coordination between the owners of any of the JV airlines. [more - original PR]