Stopping an airline flying trans-tasman if it wants to is very difficult if not impossible. NZ & Australia have an open air trans-tasman agreement which means that any airline flying to one country can fly to the other, include freedoms between the two countries.
NZ & QF have often used EK as an example for why they should be allowed to merge/engage in anti-competitive practices.
Originally Posted by sadiqhassan
If EK is getting a free ride, countries won't want to allow EK to fly there because it will harm the airlines flying there because they won't be able to compete with EK. An example is in Austrailia. Qantas constantly accuses EK of getting help, and they also accuse EK of flooding the trans-tasman market making it impossible to compete with them.
Cheers