British Airways and Qatar Airways plan a JV to Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth

British Airways and Qatar Airways have submitted a request to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to form a joint venture on nine routes to Australia from the UK.

Sydney is NOT included – I think both airlines know that such a request would be thrown out as damaging to competition.  Instead, it will cover the following routes:

• Adelaide – Manchester
• Adelaide – London
• Canberra – London
• Melbourne – London
• Melbourne – Edinburgh
• Melbourne – Manchester
• Perth – London
• Perth – Edinburgh
• Perth – Manchester

What is a little odd about this joint venture is that British Airways brings virtually nothing to the party EXCEPT for its brand.  Apart from the BA flight to Doha, every other flight in the joint venture will be operated by Qatar Airways.

At present, anyone looking to travel from London to Adelaide would be routed on British Airways to Sydney and then onto a Qantas codeshare.  British Airways believes it can make more money by filtering passengers onto a Qatar Airways flight in Doha.  As this is a joint venture, rather than just a codeshare, British Airways should make more money.

There would be very little obvious difference if the joint venture was approved.  There may be some retiming of flights so that connection times in Doha are minimised.  British Airways Executive Club status members would receive a tier bonus on the Qatar Airways service from Doha, which is not currently offered.  Apart from that ….. little changes.

This doesn’t mean that approval for the joint venture is a given, of course, since it reduces competition into the four Australian cities.  It may also raise questions over the future of the British Airways Sydney service, with many potential passengers planning to connect onwards now siphoned off via Doha instead.

You can find out more on the ACCC website here.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)