Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines seek antitrust immunised JV

Hawaiian Airlines and Japan Airlines filed (14-Jun-2018) an application with the US Department of Transportation (DoT) and Japan's MLITT seeking immunity from antitrust laws to create a JV. If approved, this will be Hawaiian's first JV, and the first JV in the US that does not involve one of the three largest US carriers. The antitrust immunised JV (ATI-JV) will build upon the codeshare partnership that the two carriers initiated in Mar-2018, allowing them to coordinate marketing and sales efforts and share costs and revenue on JV routes. In their application, Hawaiian and JAL demonstrate that the resulting efficiency will create a cascade of consumer benefits including lower fares, increased capacity and enhanced consumer choice. Hawaiian and JAL estimate that the JV will bring an additional 162,000 to 350,000 passengers to Hawai'i and contribute between USD184.5 million and USD402.3 million to the US economy annually, while generating between 1855 to 4049 US jobs. If approved, the ATI-JV would facilitate Hawaiian Airlines' enhanced access to 34 destinations throughout Japan, including Nagoya and Okinawa, as well as 11 points in Asia beyond Japan. Japan Airlines, in turn, will have improved access to Hawaiian's Neighbor Island network as well as its nonstop flights to Honolulu from Haneda and Sapporo. Hawaiian and JAL hope to gain government approval later in 2018, allowing them to launch the JV in 2Q2019. [more - original PR]