Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN) and AMR Corporation (AMR), parent of American Airlines, have inked a joint business agreement on their services between Australia/New Zealand and the United States, within the these regions and beyond to third countries.

According to a press release by American Airlines, if approved, the JBA will create "a new strategic partnership" between the two airlines. It will also enable the airlines to maximize the advantages of Qantas' new service to American's primary hub, Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), which commences next week.

The deal would be similar to the joint-services agreement between Qantas and British Airways. The announcement also comes a day after U.S. regulators approved Virgin Australia codeshare agreement with American Airlines' rival Delta Air Lines.

The JBA won't have revenue sharing on the routes between the United States and Australia and New Zealand as American currently doesn't have flights to Australia and New Zealand. This is unlike the deal recently signed by American with Japan Airlines. In April, American and JAL launched their trans-Pacific joint business, where the two parties agreed to share revenue on applicable trans-Pacific flights, in April.

Qantas, which has about 40 per cent of the trans-Pacific market, has filed an application for authorization of the American Airlines JBA with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and will file an application with the New Zealand Minister of Transport. The U.S. Department of Transportation will also review the agreement.

According to American, the key elements of the American-Qantas JBA are:
* Joint strategic planning and management of trans-Pacific services and 'behind and beyond' services within Australia/New Zealand and North America.

* Improvement of flight schedules, frequencies and connection times to benefit Qantas and American customers.

* Joint pricing initiatives resulting in more competitive fares and new fare products, as well as joint marketing of services.

* Increased opportunities for customers of each airline to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles/points on services operated by the other.

"This agreement has the potential to make travelling between Australia and the United States - and beyond - considerably more attractive for our customers, with better fares, improved connections and increased frequent flyer benefits," Rob Gurney, Group Executive Qantas Airlines Commercial, said.

Qantas currently offers 41 scheduled roundtrip flights per week between Australia/New Zealand and the U.S. These include 33 weekly flights to Los Angeles, four weekly flights to Honolulu and, beginning May 16, four weekly flights to Dallas/Fort Worth. Qantas also offers six weekly flights to New York via Los Angeles.

American Airlines, American Eagle and AmericanConnection serve 250 cities in 50 countries with, on average, more than 3,600 daily flights. Los Angeles is a cornerstone airport for American, where it, and its affiliate American Eagle, currently operate a total of 1,010 weekly flights to 37 destinations in North America.

In March 2011, Qantas and American announced a major expansion of codesharing, increasing the number of American-operated destinations Qantas offers beyond DFW to 54. American will begin codesharing on Qantas' DFW services beginning May 16 and has already placed its code on Qantas services between Brisbane and Adelaide, Canberra, Cairns, Melbourne and Perth.
Qantas expects the approval process with the ACCC to take about six months.