United and Air New Zealand Make Revenue-Sharing Agreement

United and Air New Zealand Make Revenue-Sharing Agreement

United Airlines and Air New Zealand have made a revenue-sharing agreement that is scheduled to go into effect in July 2016.

The deal comes as New Zealand’s tourism industry is expanding at a rapid rate.  January 2015 saw a significant increase for tourism in New Zealand, with an increase of 13.6% of tourists from the United States.  Air New Zealand earns a good deal of revenue off of its flights to and from North America.

Other airlines have made a play to dip into the expanding tourism rate to New Zealand.  Qatar Airways is expecting to begin non-stop service from Doha later this year.  Other airlines have increased flights from North America, the Middle East, and other regions.

According to Reuters:

The agreement is set to come into force in July and would see the airlines coordinate sales and marketing to offer more flight options and better schedules on trans-Pacific routes, the companies said in a statement.

United Airlines would at the same time launch a flight to Auckland from San Francisco, which would initially run three times a week and increase to a daily flight from November.

The two carriers already have a code sharing arrangement and the new deal would help grow inbound tourism through United Airlines’ extensive sales and distribution channels, Air New Zealand’s CEO Christopher Luxon said in a statement.

The move comes almost a year shy of a similar announcement between American Airlines and Qantas, Australia’s airline.  It will be interesting to see what the agreement will do for both United and New Zealand.  United, along with other airlines from the United States are aiming to increase revenue as much as possible.  Yesterday, United announced its intentions to add a 10th seat to its Boeing 777s.