Virgin Australia Holdings Limited
(ASX:VAH) and AIR NZ
(ASX:AIZ) have conditional approval from the consumer watchdog to continue their trans-Tasman alliance.
The airlines say authorisation will commence on January 1, 2014, when the existing authorisation expires, and continue until October 31, 2018.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says the alliance is likely to result in material public benefits.
The watchdog says without the alliance, Virgin Australia’s trans-Tasman operations would be more limited than its key competitors.
The ACCC is imposing conditions to require Virgin and Air NZ to maintain base capacity across a number of routes between Australia and New Zealand.
Virgin booked a net loss of $98.1 million in fiscal 2013.
