QANTAS and its airline partners in the oneworld alliance have won the battle to keep Asia's biggest carrier, Japan Airlines, in their camp.
JAL's decision to stay with oneworld is a dramatic turnaround from several weeks ago when it appeared set to defect to the Delta Air Lines-led SkyTeam alliance.
Japan's flagship carrier and American Airlines also announced plans for a strategic alliance on the lucrative Japan-US route.
The oneworld deal opens the way for deeper working relationships with other airlines in the oneworld alliance, including Qantas and British Airways. Qantas has already promised to share its intellectual property and expertise in running a no-frills airline with JAL.
Qantas's commercial chief, Rob Gurney, said the airline did not have plans to take it a step further and form a joint venture with JAL on the Japan-Australia route, but Qantas recognised that close partnerships were the best way of boosting its bottom line.
''Strategically and philosophically we think that is a logical way to go,'' he said.
JAL's decision to stay in oneworld is a relief to Qantas because the alliance helps feed passengers from Japan onto its network. Qantas, which gains an estimated $500 million a year in revenue from the Australia-Japan route, also has a long-standing codeshare arrangement with JAL.
''What it means for Qantas is that they continue to have a presence in Japan, which is an important market for them,'' a JPMorgan analyst, Matt Crowe, said yesterday.
''If they had lost it could have affected inbound passengers from Japan.''
The American Airlines-led oneworld and SkyTeam have been engaged in bidding war to win over JAL for months. American Airlines and private-equity firm TPG offered to invest as much as $US1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) in the Japanese airline.
The deal puts a dampener on any intentions Virgin Blue's long-haul offshoot, V Australia, has to fly to Japan because it would have benefited from SkyTeam gaining a presence in Japan.
Virgin Blue has a close relationship with Delta, which could have helped it pursue any ambitions in Japan. It has previously raised the possibility of V Australia flying to Tokyo.
