The Competition Bureau announced on October 24, 2012, that it
has entered into a Consent Agreement with Air Canada and United
Continental Holdings, Inc. ("United Continental") that
settles outstanding litigation between the Bureau and the companies
regarding a proposed joint venture and certain existing
coordination agreements in respect of Canada-US transborder airline
services. The litigation before the Competition Tribunal had been
scheduled to begin in November 2012.
Background
Approximately 15 years ago, Air Canada and United Air Lines,
Inc. began coordinating various aspects of their airline services,
including code sharing, certain joint fare discounts and incentive
programs, on many Canada-US transborder routes pursuant to
bilateral coordination agreements. Air Canada entered into similar
coordination agreements with Continental Airlines, Inc. in 2009.
(United and Continental have since merged, with United Continental
being the parent holding company.)
