There was some big news yesterday for those of us who travel to the US. Qantas and American Airlines (AA) announced they’d be expanding their trans-Pacific relationship, which will introduce AA to the popular and competitive Los Angeles to Sydney route for the first time, while Qantas will return to flying direct from Australia to San Francisco.
The expansion of their alliance will provide a wider range of options for customers, providing what they promise will be a “more seamless customer experience” on the route, while shifting their joint venture to a revenue share agreement.
The most popular onward destination for corporate travelers flying with Qantas to North America is San Francisco, so its return to SFO International Airport would be an anticipated one for their frequent flyers. It will return to the SYD – SFO route on peak days from 20th December 2015 (though services will not operate on 23rd, 24th, 25th and 31st December, 2015). This will expand to six weekly services from January 2016, with the airline offering the route on their newer Boeing 747- 400 aircraft, featuring the same interiors found in their A380s.
These flights have been made possible due to the AA direct Sydney to Los Angeles service from 19th December 2015, which replace four of Qantas’ B747 SYD – LAX weekly services and one of their MEL – LAX weekly flights. Qantas will codeshare with AA for the routes, which will see AA utilise their new B777-300ER, featuring lie-flat seats in First and Business.
Qantas Group Chief Executive Officer, Alan Joyce, said of the expanded relationship, “American Airlines is one of our most important alliance partners, and this deal strengthens the long-standing ties between us to provide a platform for future growth across the Pacific. At its heart, this is about delivering an enhanced network and better service for customers of both airlines well into the future.”
“Together with American, we can offer direct flights and unrivalled frequencies from Australia to Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas Fort Worth, seasonal services to Vancouver and one stop services to JFK via LAX. We also offer coordinated schedules that allow seamless travel within the United States and Australia.”
“San Francisco is now the most popular onward destination for Qantas’ customers travelling to the U.S. and we’re thrilled to be going back. We know there is a strong demand for direct flights, particularly from our corporate clients who will save about four hours each way by not having to connect through LAX.”
“We expect to see the strong growth in U.S. visitors coming to Australia continue, because of the strengthening U.S. economy but also because of the investment AA will make in promoting their new route. The world’s largest airline will be talking a lot more about Australia in their home market, and that’s great news for tourism,” said Mr Joyce.
All announcements are subject to regulatory approval, but the anticipated benefits for customers have been rounded up as below, taken directly from yesterday’s Press Release. Customers will be able to:
– Access to 45 services per week (combined) across the Pacific to mainland North America; this includes an increase in services from Sydney to Los Angeles from 14 to 17 per week.
– Access more than 150 destinations throughout North America on American Airline’s extensive network from Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and San Francisco including more than 50 destinations from Los Angeles.
– From Sydney access more than 60 Qantas Group destinations across Australia and New Zealand. The enhanced joint business partnership also provides opportunities for future growth into trans-Pacific markets not currently served by either airline, such as New Zealand.
– Fly American Airlines’ new flagship B777-300ER on the Sydney-Los Angeles route; featuring a three-class cabin configuration with fully lie-flat seats in First and Business Class, international Wi-Fi, and more customer and cargo capacity than any other aircraft currently in American’s fleet. Qantas will codeshare on these services.
– Fly Qantas’ reconfigured B747-400 six times per week on the Sydney-San Francisco route; featuring the same product found on the airline’s A380s, including Marc Newson’s fully-flat Skybed in Business, award winning Economy cabin and large -seat-back screens in each cabin with over 1500 entertainment options. American Airlines will codeshare on these services.
– Benefit from the 9% net increase in capacity on the Australian- mainland US routes and 6% net increase on the Sydney- Los Angeles market.
For more details head to http://qantas.com.au/ and http://aa.com/
