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Australian watchdog approves Air New Zealand-Virgin Blue alliance
Dec 16, 2010, 1:05 GMT
Wellington - A proposed alliance between Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue for flights across the Tasman Sea has been approved by the watchdog Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), it was announced Thursday.
The decision reversed a draft ruling rejecting the alliance as anti-competitive, with the ACCC saying it was 'now satisfied that the identified public benefits, in combination with the conditions of authorisation, are likely to be sufficient to outweigh any public detriment arising from the alliance.'
Both airlines say they need to co-operate on services linking New Zealand and Australia to compete with the Australian national carrier Qantas Airways Ltd and its budget subsidiary Jetstar.
Rob Fyfe, chief executive of Air New Zealand, which is 75 per cent owned by the government, said in an announcement to the stock exchange, 'I'm pleased that formal approval has been given recognising the benefits this will bring to our customers.'
The alliance, which would see the airlines code-sharing trans-Tasman flights and sharing revenues from those services, still requires approval by New Zealand Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce. Fyfe said he expected a decision within a few days.
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