Qantas Airways and American Airlines have received approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to deepen their alliance and launch new flights on the Sydney-San Francisco and Sydney-Los Angeles routes from December despite objections from rival Air New Zealand.

Qantas will break United Airlines's monopoly on the Sydney-San Francisco route from December 18, while American will launch new flights from Sydney to Los Angeles from December 19, in a move that will lead to a 9 per cent rise in overall capacity between Australia and the mainland United States. The airlines will finalise the schedule of the services and the new fares, with hopes of placing tickets on sale by the end of this month.