The prospective bedfellows said their tie-up would put them in a stronger position to compete against Qantas and Emirates on routes to London. Photo: Bloomberg
Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines say they should be allowed to form an alliance because of a ''strong competitive constraint'' from the tie-up between Qantas and Emirates.
In a filing to regulators in New Zealand, the prospective bedfellows said their tie-up would put them in a stronger position to compete against Qantas and Emirates on routes to London, as well as other airlines such as Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines.
''The alliance will continue to face a strong competitive constraint from Qantas-Emirates,'' the pair said in submission to New Zealand's Ministry of Transport.
They said Qantas and Emirates operated a variety of services between New Zealand and Australia that linked to flights to the UK. It made Qantas and Emirates the largest carriers of passengers between New Zealand and the UK. Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines, which are two of the three largest shareholders in Virgin Australia, unveiled their proposed alliance two weeks ago but need approval from regulators in New Zealand and Singapore. The process will take months.
The airlines have also argued their deal will stimulate passenger traffic into and out of New Zealand, and lead to more low fares.
They said their networks were ''largely complementary'' and the one route on which their flights overlapped - between Auckland and London - had five other airlines competing on it.
Investors believe their alliance will also cement ties between a block of airlines that includes Virgin and increase pressure on Qantas, which faces a loss of up to $300 million in the first half.
Qantas said on Wednesday it had expected a strong response to its alliance, particularly since it began the trans-Tasman component of the tie-up in August.
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