Air Canada and United May Try Again for U.S.-Canada Anti-Trust Immunity
Photo Credit: Air Canada, which recently unveiled a new livery, may reapply for a North American joint venture with United Airlines. Skift / Brian Sumers
Skift Take
Air Canada and United still dominate the majority of U.S.-Canada routes, so it's hard to see how anti-trust immunity helps consumers. But it certainly would make the airlines more formidable competitors.
Roughly five years after their last attempt, Air Canada and United Airlines may reapply for anti-trust immunity for trans-border routes, a move that could allow the two carriers to collude on pricing and schedules while sharing revenues, Air Canada's president said in an interview.
"We think together we could be able to get a little bit better share in the marketplace in a more profitable way," Air Canada's Ben Smith said during a discussion at the carrier's Toronto hub. "We'll look at it."
The carriers received clearance to start an immunized joint venture in 2012, but they never pursued it, because Canada's regulator asked for too many "carveouts" — or routes that would not be covered. As part of a legal settlement with Canada's regulator, the two airlines were banned from colluding on 14 of
