American Airlines take over Qantas LA, Kangaroo hops to San Fran

The national carrier has expanded upon its longstanding relationship with American Airlines in a move expected to benefit travellers to the United States.

The expansion will see the US carrier fly from Los Angeles to Sydney for the first time, as well as Qantas reinitiating services to San Francisco.

If all goes well with regulators, the expansion will further stoke the love affair between Australia and the States, and will provide a platform for future developments, closer commercial ties, and an even more seamless transition between North America and Australia and New Zealand.

The new revenue share agreement means Qantas will ditch four B747 Sydney-LA services per week, and one B747 Melbourne-LA service, with American Airline stepping up to replace these with a direct daily Sydney-LA service from December 19.

American Airlines’ Trans-Pacific flights will be operated by its new B777-300ER, featuring lie-flat seats in First and Business, while Qantas will retain its daily A380 Sydney and Melbourne services to Los Angeles, as well as its B747 Brisbane-LA flights, with the airlines codesharing on each other’s services.

Qantas will reunite with its Sydney-San Fran route from December 20 this year, currently a favourite non-direct destination for customers flying to the US, and bound to be even more popular now the carrier is diving straight in.

Services will initially operate on peak days and ramp up to six per week in January 2016, using its newer Boeing 747-400 aircraft.

“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,” Qantas Group’s ceo Alan Joyce said.

“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.”

The enhanced relationship also provides opportunities for future growth into trans-Pacific markets not currently served by either airline, such as New Zealand.

“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,” Joyce said.

“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.”

“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.”

American Airlines’ chairman and ceo Doug Parker said Qantas has been a fantastic partner through oneworld and the joint business relationship.

“Strengthening those ties has provided us with a solid foundation to introduce American-operated flights into the Australian region,” Parker said.

“Our customers have asked us to expand to important business markets across the Pacific, and flying our flagship aircraft, the Boeing 777-300ER, to Sydney will provide another world-class travel experience from our key gateway at LAX.”

The airlines will shortly apply for regulatory approval for these new arrangements.

Tourism Australia’s managing director John O’Sullivan said the plans by American Airlines to add Australia to its international network was great news for the tourism industry and US/Australia tourism more broadly.

“The United States is one of our largest volume and highest spending markets, with more than half a million American visitors pumping more than $2.6 billion tourism dollars into our economy each year,” he said.

“As part of our Tourism 2020 ambitions, we hope to grow the US market to more in excess of $5 billion by the end of the decade, and if we’re to achieve those sort of numbers we still need a significant and sustainable growth in aviation capacity.”

“America Airlines obviously has a huge footprint within the United States and also significant marketing resources which, when combined together, will significantly improve access and awareness of Australia amongst many millions of American holiday makers and business travellers.”

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