It is an idea ahead of its time." Canberra is considering whether Singapore Airlines Ltd. should be granted the right to pick up passengers in either Melbourne or Sydney for travel onward to Los Angeles. Currently, the Sydney-Los Angeles route is flown only by Qantas and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. Qantas Airways Ltd. controls 75 percent of the market share on the Australia-U.S. route, from which it derives around 15 percent of its net profit. "Qantas and Singapore Airlines are competitors and that means consumers win from having choice. We think there are more opportunities to compete, for example on the Australia-U.S.A. route," Forshaw said. Howard and Lee discussed the merger issue in the broader context of the current open skies pact between the nations, who are free trade partners.