CloudsBelow

IMO this moves YULPEK on the "When" list, no longer "If"

From the article :

An Air Canada-Air China joint venture is also valued at more than half a billion dollars.
Air Travel: An updated Canada-China Air Transport Agreement allows airlines from both countries to offer more travel options for goods, services and people.

Worth noting a similar transborder JV was entered between AC and UA only to have Ben Smith later confirm no such JV was in place. So, Who knows ..... But would seem any deal including expanded access to Beijing would be a good thing



http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cana...rade-1.2828707

tcook052

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1442...-china-network

BEIJING, China and MONTREAL, Nov. 8, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada and Air China Limited today announced that the airlines have concluded a memorandum of understanding setting out the main principles for a comprehensive revenue sharing joint venture providing for an enhanced partnership on routes between Canada and China which will stimulate traffic growth between the two countries. The joint venture will generate additional service and pricing benefits for consumers travelling between the two countries as well as provide for enhanced cooperation between the two carriers in the areas of sales, marketing and airport operations. The announcement was made in Beijing during an official visit to China by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, prior to a meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) member nations.

Subject to Air Canada and Air China making the necessary filings, obtaining competition and other regulatory approvals and finalizing documentation, the joint venture is expected to come into effect by the end of 2015.

"Working cooperatively with our partner Air Canada, we will be able to provide more travel options and benefits for customers travelling between China and Canada while reducing travel times through a more streamlined travel experience," said Song Zhiyong, President and Executive Director of Air China Limited. "This joint venture between Air China and Air Canada will provide many benefits and commercial synergies on the important and growing market for travel and trade between Canada and China. Over the past five years the Canada-China air travel market has grown on average by almost 11 per cent annually and this trend is expected to remain strong according to airline industry trade group IATA."

"As members of Star Alliance, Air Canada and Air China will benefit from a revenue sharing joint venture, as have our customers through a simplified travel experience and loyalty rewards," said Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, in Beijing to sign the memorandum of understanding. "By deepening our cooperation in the areas of scheduling and sales management, the carriers will be better able to serve customers by offering more travel options. The joint venture will provide customers of both carriers additional travel options through the expansion of codeshare flights to additional airports in both carriers' domestic networks as network growth is a core principle of the joint venture."

Currently, Air China offers its customers codeshare flights operated by Air Canada between Vancouver and six Canadian cities (Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal) and Air Canada offers its customers codeshare flights operated by Air China between Beijing and six cities in China (Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shenyang, Wuhan and Xi'an).

Air Canada operates up to a total of 28 flights per week between Canada and China, from Toronto and Vancouver to and from Beijing and Shanghai. Air China operates up to 11 flights per week between Beijing and Vancouver.

ridefar

Didn't the federal government play a role in putting the kibosh on the AC/UA JV? If that's the case, then presumably the blessing of both national governments in this instance means that the JV can proceed. I would also assume this requires the new airport at PEK to be open? Isn't the current one out of landing slots?

CloudsBelow

They blocked some routes on the deal that AC/UA had monopoly. Ben Smith was on record acknowledging and supporting the final stipulations after the "carve-out" routes were announced.
He recently confirmed here no Joint Venture was in place. So, Who knows? Perhaps he will expand on it at some point
Air China has many prime PEK slots ... Perhaps they could shift existing ops to accommodate 4*weekly A332 to YUL or something like that. Maybe AC's 788 due to the metal neutrality

ridefar

Gotcha. I noticed YYC-ORD was one of the carve outs, yet mysteriously AC and UA prices are within a couple bucks of one another at most times (or at least that was the case this last summer). So even where there is competition there isn't.

The Lev

I can't imagine them using a 332 PEK-YUL. Pretty sure that aircraft would have to be heavily load restricted to fly that kind of distance.

Who hear is expecting to see "pricing benefits" from this collusion - oops I mean cooperation?

Dorian

This will surely is an additional blow for those that will struggle to meet the new AC minimum metal requirements for status.

I cannot thing of one real benefit to consumers here....

Anyone got one?

Stranger

You might be able to use a ton of credits to upgrade on air China?

OK, seriously, I guess not...

Indeed these deals are all about killing competition.

Calin probably flies CX to Asia, no?

ACYYZ/SD

This sounds like a perfect 787, 77L or 772 route. 773 is far too much airplane for this start up route, and a 332 would be stretched to the limits (if not as Lev pointed out highly load restricted).

Dorian

The TATL JV has resulted in few aircraft on Canada - EU I would assume?

Surely AC would turn YVRFRA if they weren't sharing revenue with LH...

Stranger

More like 787 than any 777 I would think?

Still, is there that much traffic from YUL to China to justify it?

ACYYZ/SD

I agree with you there. The numbers are steadily increasing bolstered by forecasts of CDA>CHINA trade. I think this would be classified as a "burgeoning" route with great potential.

The Lev

Montreal is the centre for Canada's schmata business, but still have a hard time imagining that YUL could fill a plane without a lot of onward traffic.

Stranger

I had to look up schmata.

But how well is it doing, given all these cheap imports, and not only/no longer from China. And given these big worldwide brands that are taking more and more of the business?

Sebring

Do you mean "consumers here", as in air travellers in general, or consumers here, as in the Aeroplan FlyerTalk forum? On the latter, maybe true although more flights regardless of metal have the possibility of opening up more upgrade capacity on AC metal, but for consumers in general, you can bet that there will be a YUL-PEK Air China service and an AC YYC-PEK service before mid-2016. Those will constitute a net addition to capacity between Canada and China, and hence a benefit to both those communities and consumers in the wider sense of the word.