The Australian International Air Services Commission (IASC), has granted Qantas permission to run seven weekly services on the South African route and that South African Airways will be able to codeshare on the Qantas South African flights until the 14th December 2014.
The IASC also confirmed that within the next two years, that a third direct carrier would not be allowed to enter in competition with Qantas on the Sydney to Johannesburg route or with South African Airways on the Perth to Johannesburg route or even enter the route on a different city pairing.
The IASC stated, “The commission notes that on this occasion, unlike in 2011, Virgin Australia has not made a submission. Since the Commission’s February 2012 Decision, Virgin Australia has announced and commenced codeshare services between Australia and South Africa via Singapore under its alliance with Singapore Airlines.”
The IASC also stated that it did not believe that the two codeshare airlines would introduce any parallel services on one or both routes within the next two years. They also believed that they would not commence direct services on a new city pairing without the codeshare.
The IASC did go on to state that after 2014 that it would consider that there was a greater possibility of the two carriers operating parallel services, assuming that there was a continuing growth in passenger numbers.
The IASC also stated that it was highly unlikely that either Qantas or South Africa Airways would exiting the market within the next two years.