Industry body Airlines for Australia and New Zealand (A4ANZ) has backed calls by the country's competition regulator to restrain the monopoly power that the country's airports have when negotiating aeronautical charges. In a submission to a Senate committee on transport and rural affairs, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) repeated its long-held position that "stronger regulatory oversight of the major airports is required to prevent them from exercising their market power and imposing higher charges on airlines, including those that operate in regional areas". The ACCC monitors and has oversight of airport aeronautical charges under legislation, but the body says that this "no longer acts as a constraint on behaviour because there is less of a threat of regulatory action than there was when the regime was first introduced over [two] decades ago". Instead, it is supporting calls by airlines to introduce a "negotiate/arbitrate" scheme that would allow for any breakdowns during negotiations with airports to be resolved by a third party. "We considered that this would incentivise the major airports to negotiate with the airlines in good faith," it adds. In response, A4ANZ chair Graeme Samuel says in a 19 January statement that the group supports the ACCC recommendation. "Commercial arbitration frameworks are common in other industries and cover all significant agreements. Arbitration would incentivise airports to negotiate in good faith and prevent excessive charges that harm consumers and the broader economy," he adds. Samuel is a former commissioner of the ACCC and says that with A$44 billion ($29.4 billion) of capital works planned for airports in the country "passenger charges are set to rise substantially, inevitably feeding into higher airfares and cargo prices". A 2019 inquiry by the government's Productivity Commission considered a negotiate/arbitrate framework for setting aeronautical charges but found that airports were not systematically abusing their market power, and there was "no justification for significant change to the current form of regulation of aeronautical services at any of these airports at this time". In its response, the government at that time agreed with the Commission's view, finding that there was "no current justification for significant change to the current form of 'light handed' economic regulation" of airports.

Air India and Singapore Airlines have signed a framework agreement that will pave the way for greater connectivity between their networks. The commercial cooperation framework agreement was signed on 16 January in Mumbai and sets a way forward to seek regulatory approvals for "definitive joint agreements" that would allow them to align schedules and the potential for cross-participation in each other's business travel programmes. "Air India and SIA also plan to explore opportunities to broaden the scope of their cooperation in select markets, beyond Singapore and India, subject to regulatory approvals," they add. "This would meet the growing demand for global connectivity, support traffic flow through both carriers' hubs, and strengthen the air travel markets of both India and Singapore." SIA holds a 25% stake in Air India, with the remaining 75%India'sy India's Tata Group. The two airlines have existing codeshare arrangements covering several routes from India and Singapore

The AirAsia shorthaul carriers are now under the ownership of AirAsia X after Capital A closed the long-anticipated sale of AirAsia Berhad and AirAsia Aviation Capital Group. Capital A says in an 18 January statement that the transaction settled with the allotment and issue of 2.3 billion shares in AAX to Capital A and its shareholders via an in-specie dividend, and the assumption of MYR3.8 billion ($937 million) in debt it owes to AirAsia Berhad. AirAsia X also completed the placement of over 606 million shares to investors as part of its own capital raising. "The completion of this transaction consolidates all AirAsia-branded airlines under a single airline platform ('AirAsia Group') while Capital A pivots to grow its non-aviation portfolio," Capital A states. Tony Fernandes, Capital A chief executive, says that closing the transaction "represents the culmination of one of the most complex and rigorous restructuring exercises undertaken by an aviation group, since Covid brought aviation to a standstill six years ago". AirAsia X chairman Fam Lee Ee says that with the transaction complete, the company is well positioned for sustainable growth. "The consolidation is set to unlock operational and financial efficiencies, including improved fleet utilisation, more integrated network planning and a more resilient operating platform, while leveraging the broader aviation and travel ecosystem developed through the Capital A’s group of companies," he adds. With the disposal of the airlines, Capital A will be focused on five businesses: MRO unit Asia Digital Engineering, logistics firm Teleport, travel business AirAsia Move, branding subsidiary AirAsia Next and food business Santan. Cirium fleets data shows that the consolidated AirAsia Group has 231 Airbus aircraft in storage, 28 in storage and 378 on order. Malaysia-based AirAsia is the largest operator, with 112 aircraft in its fleet, while AirAsia Cambodia is the smallest with only two Airbus A320ceos in operation.