Qantas-Emirates deal cleared by Australian regulators, but for 5 years instead of a decade

Qantas Airways won provisional approval from Australia’s antitrust regulator to cooperate with Emirates on services as it seeks to turn around unprofitable international operations.

The agreement should be permitted for five years, rather than the 10 sought by the carriers, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, or ACCC, said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange today.

The venture will let Qantas sell tickets to 60 new one-stop destinations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa via Emirates’ Dubai hub, and help it overhaul Asian schedules.

“The ACCC considers that the alliance is likely to result in material, although not substantial, benefits to Australian consumers,” the regulator’s Chairman Rod Sims said in the statement.