United & Air Canada Will Give Joint Venture Another Go

United Airlines and Air Canada have entered into a joint venture agreement for flights between the US and Canada.

In a news release on Friday that was short on details, the carriers said that the airlines will be able coordinate on scheduling and share revenue on transborder routes. The release didn’t say whether the carriers intend to jointly operate flights between the US and Canada, though joint operations are generally a part of antitrust-immune joint ventures.  

The airlines have been authorized to form an antitrust-immune US-Canada joint venture since 1997. The carriers attempted to establish that joint venture in 2011 but didn’t go through with it after the Canada Competition Bureau forbade joint operations on 14 high-demand routes that the bureau contended would have diminished competition as a result of the partnership.

United and Air Canada already codeshare on flights and offer reciprocal loyalty program accruals, redemptions and benefits.

In their announcement on Friday, the carriers said that their new agreement will lead to more transborder codeshares. The airlines anticipate offering 46 transborder codeshare destinations with more than 400 daily frequencies this year and said there will be opportunities to add more codeshare destinations on domestic routes within the U.S. and Canada.

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