Airline Service to Expand Between Australia, U.S.

After 2 1/2 years of negotiations, the governments of Australia and the United States have agreed to expand airline service between the two countries.

An agreement signed during the weekend allows U.S. airlines to fly to Brisbane, Cairns and one other Australian city to be chosen by the United States, and then fly on to eight other Australian destinations.

The two U.S. carriers serving Australia, Continental Airlines and United Airlines, currently can fly to four Australian cities.

Under the new agreement, U.S. airlines also are allowed to apply for service linking the United States and two Australian cities via Japan. Australia’s government-owned carrier, Qantas Airways Ltd., can fly to 15 U.S. cities, compared to the four it now serves. The destinations will be chosen by Qantas.

Qantas also can fly from the United States to Canada and will later be able to fly from the United States to Europe without the restrictions that it now faces.

Houston-based Continental said it will increase the number of weekly flights out of Australia to 19 from the current 16 by the end of October, and add another three flights to the United States by April.

North Pacific Route

United, the largest U.S. carrier, has not announced any proposed changes. The airline’s manager for Australia, Michael Merlini, said that prior to the agreement Chicago-based United already had planned to increase the number of weekly flights from Australia to the United States to 14 from eight.

Qantas and the U.S. airlines also are expected to take advantage of the expansion through “code sharing,” or using a local airline to book passengers on a through flight, according to a statement by Gareth Evans, Australia’s minister for transport and communications.

Under the agreement, both the U.S. airlines and Qantas can operate on a new route between Guam and Australia.

An existing route between Australia and the United States by way of the North Pacific, currently open only to U.S. airlines, will also be opened to Qantas.

The agreement also allows for automatic approval of capacity increases in line with growth in passenger traffic.

Continental said in a statement that it plans to expand its Honolulu hub and inaugurate three weekly DC-10 flights between Sydney, Brisbane and Guam starting April 1.