Air New Zealand and Qantas will not appeal against the New Zealand High Court's recent rejection of their proposed alliance, despite the Australian Competition Tribunal (ACT) approving the deal. The ACT threw out an earlier rejection of the deal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Although the tribunal's findings are yet to be released, it found the proposed alliance - in which Qantas was to take a 22.5% stake in Air New Zealand - to be of benefit to the public. The alliance needed approval in both countries to proceed. An appeal in New Zealand would take too long, cost too much money and be unlikely to succeed, says Qantas.
Source: Flight International