The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (“CCCS”) has approved the application by Emirates to remove its capacity commitments for the Singapore-Brisbane route, which was provided to CCCS on 28 March 2013, in relation to its alliance with the Qantas Airways Ltd (“Qantas”) (together, “the Parties”).

On 12 October 2012, CCCS received an application for a decision under section 44(1)(b) of the Competition Act (Cap. 50B)(the “Act”) on whether the proposed alliance between Emirates and Qantas (“the Alliance”) would infringe section 34 prohibition of the Act. The Alliance allowed the Parties to coordinate various aspects of their flight services such as pricing (relating to fares, rebates, incentives and discounts), scheduling, marketing, planning, operating capacity and airport facilities.

On 28 March 2013, CCCS issued a decision approving the Alliance after the Parties offered to provide CCCS with a voluntary undertaking (“Undertaking”) to maintain and under certain circumstances, to increase seat capacity on the flights operated by the Parties on the Singapore-Melbourne and Singapore-Brisbane routes. CCCS had found that, with the capacity commitments, the Alliance would result in net economic benefits despite the competition concerns arising from the price and capacity coordination between the Parties. The capacity commitments remain in force for the duration of the Alliance.

On 16 April 2019, Emirates applied to CCCS to vary the Undertaking by removing the minimum base seat capacity commitment in respect of the Singapore-Brisbane route, so that it can withdraw from this route. CCCS conducted a public consultation on the application from 13 to 24 September 2019. CCCS did not receive any feedback on concerns regarding the proposed variation of the Undertaking and the consequential withdrawal by Emirates from the Singapore-Brisbane route.

Read the full media release here.