For several weeks now, there have been rumors that Qatar Airways could invest in Virgin Australia. While nothing has been finalized yet, the Australian Financial Review reports that a deal is potentially just days away at this point…
In this post:
Qatar Airways could buy 20% stake in Virgin Australia
Qatar Airways is reportedly planning on taking a 20% stake in Virgin Australia, in a deal that could shake up the Australian aviation market. Qatar Airways is of course owned by the Qatari government, while Virgin Australia is owned by Bain Capital, and has been wanting to go public.
According to sources familiar with the transaction, a deal could be announced as early as this week. However, regulatory approval would need to be obtained from the Foreign Investment Review Board, and it’s possible that the government may block the transaction, especially with Qatar Airways being owned by a foreign government.
Sources also claim that at one point Singapore Airlines had been close to taking a stake in Virgin Australia, but that didn’t end up happening.
The motive for investing in Virgin Australia is obvious
Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia have had a partnership since 2022, including a codeshare agreement, reciprocal loyalty benefits, and more.
On the surface, people might be confused by this partnership. Qatar Airways and Qantas both belong to oneworld, so you’d think that the two airlines would have close cooperation. Well, that’s very not much the case, despite their shared alliance membership:
- Qantas has a joint venture with Emirates, so prioritizes that partnership over the one with Qatar Airways
- For years, Qantas has been actively trying to block Qatar Airways’ growth in Australia, as Australia’s government has protectionist policies in place for Australian airlines
Emirates is treated much better by the Australian government than Qatar Airways, and that largely comes down to Qantas’ support of Emirates:
- Australia’s bilateral agreement with the UAE allows for 168 weekly flights to Australia’s four main airports
- Australia’s bilateral agreement with Qatar allows for 28 weekly flights to Australia’s four main airports
In both cases, Australian airlines don’t fly to either airport, so why should Emirates and Etihad have access to 7x more flights in Australia than Qatar Airways, when both countries have airlines with the primary business model of connecting travelers to other countries? This policy is what has caused Qatar Airways to operate “ghost” flights within Australia.
Generally if one airline buys a stake in another, it’s primarily because the airline hopes for closer cooperation, and to have more control over business decisions at the other airline. So that raises the question of what Qatar Airways would hope to gain with a Virgin Australia investment, given that the airlines already have a partnership:
- Does Qatar Airways hope that Virgin Australia petitions the Australian government to help it get more access to the Australian market?
- Given the bilateral agreements in place, I can’t help but wonder if the goal might actually be for Qatar Airways to supply Virgin Australia with wide body jets, and then have the airline resume long haul flights, adding routes to Doha above the limits that Qatar Airways is currently subjected to
While that latter idea is perhaps a bit out there, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it. It would essentially be a way to bypass any restrictions on Qatar Airways’ service to Australia, since currently no Australian airlines fly between Australia and Qatar.
It’s also kind of funny that Qatar Airways has acquired some former Virgin Australia Boeing 777s, and has maintained the interior. Could those planes somehow end up back at Virgin Australia? I’m getting ahead of myself here, but…
Investing in airlines comes with (serious) risks
I get that the Qatari government has deep pockets, but I can’t help but emphasize what a horrible track record Gulf carriers generally have with investing in foreign airlines.
For one, Etihad lit billions of dollars on fire, as it tried to create a global network of airlines that it invested in, ranging from airberlin, to Air Serbia, to Air Seychelles, to Alitalia, to Jet Airways, and more. Etihad’s airline acquisition strategy at the time may have been the worst investment strategy we’ve seen in the history of the airline industry, as all the airlines have either liquidated, or Etihad just cut ties.
Even in the case of Qatar Airways, many years back the airline acquired Italy’s Meridiana, and rebranded it as Air Italy. That airline also liquidated.
Now, in fairness, Qatar Airways does also have some more successful airline investments. Qatar Airways owns a 20% stake in IAG (the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus), a 10% stake in Cathay Pacific, and a 10% stake in LATAM. However, these aren’t terribly “active” investments, which is to say that these are well established airlines that mostly have a track record of profitability, and Qatar Airways didn’t come in with the goal of changing these airlines.
Qatar Airways seems to be looking to grow its portfolio. In addition to a possible Virgin Australia stake, a deal was recently signed for Qatar Airways to buy a 25% stake in South Africa’s Airlink. Qatar Airways is also nearing a stake in RwandAir, given that Qatar’s government is a major shareholder in the country’s new airport.
Bottom line
Qatar Airways is reportedly in final negotiations to acquire a stake in Virgin Australia. The oneworld carrier has been trying to grow in Australia, but has been prevented from doing so, as Qantas has been campaigning against the airline. That’s why Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia have a partnership in the first place.
While airline investments often don’t end well, I imagine Qatar Airways sees this as a strategy to grow in the country. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we see Qatar Airways help Virgin Australia to resume long haul flights, particularly to and from Doha.
What do you make of Qatar Airways investing in Virgin Australia?
poor coward Phantom of Willis Tower can't stand to admit that Delta does anything world-leading so he incessantly throws whatever pieces of data he can at the wall in order to avoid admitting that not only do I know what I am talking about but speak accurately that Delta has assembled the world's leading equity portfolio in global airlines - which are the basis for joint ventures where they are allowed.
Delta has acquired joint...
poor coward Phantom of Willis Tower can't stand to admit that Delta does anything world-leading so he incessantly throws whatever pieces of data he can at the wall in order to avoid admitting that not only do I know what I am talking about but speak accurately that Delta has assembled the world's leading equity portfolio in global airlines - which are the basis for joint ventures where they are allowed.
Delta has acquired joint ventures in AeroMexico, Air France/KLM, China Eastern, Korean, Latam, and Virgin Atlantic.
No other airline has acquired as extensive of a portfolio in leading global airlines as Delta has.
Qatar Airways IS following Delta's example in pursuing an investment in Virgin Australia where money is far less of a concern than the doors the investment will open.
DL set the standard which QR is now following.
Meanwhile, United has committed to $60 billion in new aircraft but can't get Boeing to deliver the massive numbers of 787s and 737s that United wants so United scrounged the earth for new A321NEOs and came up with just 3 dozen A321NEOs from leasing companies with multiple manufacturers. UA can't get Boeing to deliver enough 787s to grow and replace its massive aging and fuel inefficient fleet of widebodies so UA is now turning to the used aircraft market to buy decade old 787-8s and early build 777-300ERs, the former of which will add the Rolls-Royce engine to United's 787 fleet - and Delta just happens to have the MRO contract for Rolls Royce widebody engines.
Meanwhile, Delta continues to spend one-third of what UA spends on fleet and is getting the new generation aircraft it needs including the A350 - which UA has had on order for a decade but keeps deferring - even though the A350 is far more capable and cost efficient than any 787.
UA has simply been too busy trying to buy planes and has committed all of its cash flow and more to have the bandwidth to buy equity in foreign airlines while Delta has assembled a larger portfolio in global airlines than any other airline in the world.
Of course the Phantom can't stand to read or hear those realities.
Your statements are full of garbage, and you're simply upset that you were called out for being WRONG by the poster below on how Qatar preceded Delta on these investments across the board when you claimed they were first with FACTS. You literally argued with another poster that the reason why Delta has BARELY outperformed United this year in net income is due to its losses in equity investments which are SUBSTANTIAL - must be...
Your statements are full of garbage, and you're simply upset that you were called out for being WRONG by the poster below on how Qatar preceded Delta on these investments across the board when you claimed they were first with FACTS. You literally argued with another poster that the reason why Delta has BARELY outperformed United this year in net income is due to its losses in equity investments which are SUBSTANTIAL - must be really world leading.
Delta's JV with Aeromexico has been struck down by authorities, and the airline declared bankruptcy in 2020. Virgin Atlantic has not been profitable for 7-8 years. China Eastern is similarly trading for less than $0.50 on the Chinese indices and is losing billions of $'s (and no JV). LATAM similarly declared bankruptcy in 2020 and Delta owns just as much of the airline as Qatar (hence it cannot join SkyTeam).
Air France / KLM is a strong airline group, but it is #3 in Europe by a large distance in profitability behind 1) Lufthansa and 2) IAG. Korean Air is an arguably stronger partner than JAL and ANA today, but it's not by a ton, and we will see how the market develops.
So your "WORLD LEADING" airline investor has equity in a bunch of unprofitable airlines that have declared bankruptcy or have no path to profitability (Virgin), the #3 major group out of the 3 main airline groups across the Atlantic, and a strong partner in the Pacific. Truly riveting stuff Tim
My statement has nothing to do with the timing of when equity announcements were made.
I never said that Delta was the first airline to invest in other airlines - but that is just one of the points that the Coward wants to argue even though that is far from the point.
Delta has assembled investments in a large portfolio of global airlines than any other airline.
The six airlines in DL's e
the six airlines in DL's equity portfolio represent a larger pool of global airlines than any other airline's equity pool including of QR.
It becomes pretty clear that you are no different from the Coward - maybe you are the same person - and can't debate what is discussed so keep throwing in a million caveats.
And DL's profitability is not harmed over a year by its equity investments. DAL still is the largest market...
the six airlines in DL's equity portfolio represent a larger pool of global airlines than any other airline's equity pool including of QR.
It becomes pretty clear that you are no different from the Coward - maybe you are the same person - and can't debate what is discussed so keep throwing in a million caveats.
And DL's profitability is not harmed over a year by its equity investments. DAL still is the largest market cap airline in the world and has greater profitability on an annual basis.
The Coward can't stand to admit that Delta has successfully used a strategy that none of its US airline competitors have used and have a larger pool of airline equity partners than QR or any other airline.
And JVs are not equal to equity investments.
The AM JV decision by the DOT has not been finalized - but facts don't matter to you when you are more interested in trying to "score a point" by making statements that everyone that remotely understands the subject know are not true.
It may have the largest portfolio of investments. However, a claim that they are successful investments is a but spurious. They have lost a lot of money on their airline investments like most people.
The whole purpose of airline equity investments isn't to make money - that should be obvious.
Airline equity investments have often been accompanied by bankruptcies and restructurings and ends of the partnership.
Airlines invest in other airlines for strategic reasons. That is PRECISELY why QR is investing in Virgin Australia.
It is why DL has invested in six global airlines. The fact that DL has not lost a single equity partner in which it...
The whole purpose of airline equity investments isn't to make money - that should be obvious.
Airline equity investments have often been accompanied by bankruptcies and restructurings and ends of the partnership.
Airlines invest in other airlines for strategic reasons. That is PRECISELY why QR is investing in Virgin Australia.
It is why DL has invested in six global airlines. The fact that DL has not lost a single equity partner in which it invested - not whether it has lost money - is what is successful.
and the whole notion of equity investments being a drag on DAL comes back to the fact that DL has been the most profitable, highest market cap airline whose stock has performed as well or better than other high performing US carrier stocks.
“QR has looked at DL's success in active investment in partners and can't help but want to duplicate the DL strategy.”
-False.
QR invested in LATAM before DL.
QR invested in IAG before DL invested in AF-KLM.
QR invested in CX before DL invested in KE.
Back when DL still had a JV with VA, DL was unsurprisingly the only major partner to not have an ownership stake unlike SQ, EY,...
“QR has looked at DL's success in active investment in partners and can't help but want to duplicate the DL strategy.”
-False.
QR invested in LATAM before DL.
QR invested in IAG before DL invested in AF-KLM.
QR invested in CX before DL invested in KE.
Back when DL still had a JV with VA, DL was unsurprisingly the only major partner to not have an ownership stake unlike SQ, EY, and HU.
Tim can stick to his word salad conjecture with factually incorrect statements and without supporting data. If for once he was accurate with his takes, he wouldn’t have to be so sensitive every time he’s corrected which is clearly a point of embarrassment for him.
DL continues to take losses on its equity investments such as WheelsUp which is once again running out of cash and requiring yet another capital injection to survive.
Amen.
Wow, you nailed it! Well done.
dear coward,
once again, it is you that throws a million irrelevant facts at the wall hoping that some of the ignorant readers (like Julia) will buy it.
nobody gave a timeline for when anyone invested in other airlines.
Delta HAS BUILT the most successful airline equity program in the world - and noticeably United is not a part of that program.
and do you not think that other airlines that had equity in...
dear coward,
once again, it is you that throws a million irrelevant facts at the wall hoping that some of the ignorant readers (like Julia) will buy it.
nobody gave a timeline for when anyone invested in other airlines.
Delta HAS BUILT the most successful airline equity program in the world - and noticeably United is not a part of that program.
and do you not think that other airlines that had equity in Virgin Australia didn't lose money? Of course they did but you selectively think that only Delta loses money on its equity investments.
You can't stand that Delta can operate 4 hubs on each coast that you and others think loses money and DL still has money to invest in other companies and STILL earns $2 billion more than United, DL's next closest competitor.
It does defy explanation - unless, of course, you have no clue what you are talking about and DL really does make good investments and far better business decisions.
and DAL's own financial statements show that its equity investments are worth more as of June 30, 2024 than they were a year ago.
But we know full well that you don't want facts or data when bias and manipulation is your primary intent.
Of course you cowardly take pot shots from behind the bushes; no one would show their face or use their own name if they repeatedly messed up facts as much as you do - even while accusing other people of doing the same.
@Tim Dunn
You're mental...it's ever more obvious.
You failed to answer the facts, because you can't.
Pathetic....completely mental...
@Julie and @LAXLonghorn get it. Once again Tim resorts to meaningless conjecture instead of sticking to facts and data.
Here’s a fact that Tim could have stated
DAL Equity Investments
12/31/2023 3.457B
06/30/2024 3.022B (-13%)
The hilarious thing is that Virgin Atlantic isn’t even counted in those numbers because according to Delta, “The carrying value of our investment in Virgin Atlantic remains ZERO as of December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023,...
@Julie and @LAXLonghorn get it. Once again Tim resorts to meaningless conjecture instead of sticking to facts and data.
Here’s a fact that Tim could have stated
DAL Equity Investments
12/31/2023 3.457B
06/30/2024 3.022B (-13%)
The hilarious thing is that Virgin Atlantic isn’t even counted in those numbers because according to Delta, “The carrying value of our investment in Virgin Atlantic remains ZERO as of December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, we have approximately $400 million of unrecognized equity method LOSSES related to our 49% interest in Virgin Atlantic.”
I should also mention in past years that previous unrecognized losses materialized on the income statement after Delta had to bail out the airline time after time.
Unsurprisingly, the airline Delta exerts the most control over is significantly unprofitable. Also the value of Delta’s investment in WheelsUp has dropped in half in only six months.
Absolutely no surprise why Delta trailed US airlines in the MRQ both in margin and total profits which doesn’t even include the impact of their record summer meltdown.
your hatred for facts is on clear display
"Absolutely no surprise why Delta trailed US airlines in the MRQ both in margin and total profits which doesn’t even include the impact of their record summer meltdown."
feel free to post the margins of US airlines with DL in the ranking.
You can't and you won't because your statement is patently false.
You do realize that actual facts show that UA cancelled 2.5% of flights...
your hatred for facts is on clear display
"Absolutely no surprise why Delta trailed US airlines in the MRQ both in margin and total profits which doesn’t even include the impact of their record summer meltdown."
feel free to post the margins of US airlines with DL in the ranking.
You can't and you won't because your statement is patently false.
You do realize that actual facts show that UA cancelled 2.5% of flights in July (which was in the 3rd quarter which has not been reported) compared to 4.2% for DL? Whether you do or not, the notion that DL alone was impacted by crowdstrike is completely false.
Delta built the largest equity portfolio for strategic reasons and QR is following DL's example.
Meanwhile, United is spending 3X more than DL on fleet and yet can't even get the airplanes it ordered delivered to it.
So, UA will be buying used less efficient aircraft.
You clearly aren't the smartest knife in the kitchen but it is clear that you hate me making statements about UA or DL's leadership in the industry that you don't like.
If you were half smart, you would see that the more you try to attack me, the more I post here and elsewhere.
Accept the easily verifiable facts instead of attacking me if you want to see less of what I write. Instead of wishing I would die, just change your behavior and sensitive to facts.
The Aussie gov has to be a bit protectionist - The last time we removed the preferred airline status, the NZ govt run airline siphoned money from Ansett causing a large collapse right at a time when it should have been booming. This is a general statement and of course airline collapses tend to my multi faceted but with a small population, an inability to really hub and spoke, and little other travel infrastructure except...
The Aussie gov has to be a bit protectionist - The last time we removed the preferred airline status, the NZ govt run airline siphoned money from Ansett causing a large collapse right at a time when it should have been booming. This is a general statement and of course airline collapses tend to my multi faceted but with a small population, an inability to really hub and spoke, and little other travel infrastructure except for roads, (where it takes 11hrs no stop to drive SYD - MEL) aviation is vitally important.
We also have to remember that the Australian Government was not very pleased with the way Qatar handled the birth incident at the airport, pulling Australian women of child bearing age off flights to inspect them for recent birth. The lack of protection offered to Australian citizens made allowing more flights less attractive - there may have even been pressure on Qantas to go the other way.
I think it’s very easy to lay a lot of heat on Qantas, but I would say that as point to point airlines go, it would be the strongest and most successful. It has a lot of things against it - even in its seat race against Virgin, which was back by three govt backed airlines, Qatar, Singapore and Air NZ - it ran at a loss for 7 years trying to defeat Qantas, yet Qantas diversified and I think did very well.
Ben, I do notice that you’re not a fan of Qantas, I sometimes think you’re quite unfair on the airline to be honest.
NZ was privately owned (majority owned by Brierley Investments and a minority stake from Singapore Airlines) when they owned Ansett. The NZ Government purchased a majority stake after the Ansett collapse to bail them out of financial trouble. Which diluted Brierley and Singapore Airlines from the register.
Curious.
Ansett reference was from 2+ decades ago?
QF/EK partnership formed in 2013. The Qatar incident was in 2020?
QF seat race with VA? VA only had 5 777's...okay, also some A330's...but compared to QF, how was that a seat race?
Qantas diversified? How?
I'm not understanding your various rationale.
Hi LAXLonghorn,
While the Ansett issue was 20 years ago, the impact was felt across our continent for a while. Government policy was formed by this event and it will take a while to open up, but at this stage, aviation is so critical to the Australian economy that having one or two strong airlines is the only answer.
The seat battle was domestic. Of course on an international level, Qantas outstripped Virgin, but it...
Hi LAXLonghorn,
While the Ansett issue was 20 years ago, the impact was felt across our continent for a while. Government policy was formed by this event and it will take a while to open up, but at this stage, aviation is so critical to the Australian economy that having one or two strong airlines is the only answer.
The seat battle was domestic. Of course on an international level, Qantas outstripped Virgin, but it was in the domestic market that Singapore, NZ and Qatar tried to bankrupt Qantas
It doesn’t remove the fact that for a country with a population of 26million, in a sparse region, with 7 capital cities of which only 5 are over the population of $1million Qantas punches above its weight.
I also note, that while the lobbying arm of Qantas is particularly strong (think chairman’s lounge) the Australian government is extremely proficient at soft politics and uses Qantas all the time. This includes when it chooses to purchase Boeing vs airbus, where to fly to and using its brand as ambassadorial “Australia”.
I understand Australia’s concern about having a strong domestic aviation industry.
However it does seem a little strange that airfares are some of the highest in the world (maybe with exception of SYD-MEL-BNE) and capacity is limited (yes it’s a small population centred around 3-4 cities). And no low cost operator can make it work. I wonder if Qantas didn’t own the dominant low cost operator if there would be a lot more effective...
I understand Australia’s concern about having a strong domestic aviation industry.
However it does seem a little strange that airfares are some of the highest in the world (maybe with exception of SYD-MEL-BNE) and capacity is limited (yes it’s a small population centred around 3-4 cities). And no low cost operator can make it work. I wonder if Qantas didn’t own the dominant low cost operator if there would be a lot more effective competition.
Qantas is very profitable. But it also charges £8,000 on business SYD-LON while Qatar can be as low as £3,500. So it’s obvious that their margins would be pressured. But consumers should benefit. As should incoming tourism.
Hey Dave C,
Let me first acknowledge how much I love your country. Amazing beyond belief.
I've had an interesting career that covered many fields, including aviation. That said, I was only involved in the international aviation markets, and had nothing to do with the domestic market. What I also want to acknowledge is Qantas / Jetstar. At least in NAm, and almost every other market, dual operations were never sustainable, so I give Qantas...
Hey Dave C,
Let me first acknowledge how much I love your country. Amazing beyond belief.
I've had an interesting career that covered many fields, including aviation. That said, I was only involved in the international aviation markets, and had nothing to do with the domestic market. What I also want to acknowledge is Qantas / Jetstar. At least in NAm, and almost every other market, dual operations were never sustainable, so I give Qantas / Jetstar credit.
Sooo, after literally representing several States/Territories in the aviation sector, amongst others...QF's arrogance was tiring. The marketing contracts we had to sign were just silly. It wasn't the people at the mid or even higher management level management, it was the C-level that made it annoying working with them.
Anyways, see ya mate...all the best!
I wonder what shenanigans QF will pull to block the investment or link various restrictions.
But it overall seems a positive. Both QR and Bain are smart and could really leverage the investment together.
I think it all about gaining DOH lift. I doubt that they could do much in the North TPAC market given the heavy coordination/connectivity between AA/QF...
I think so too. I don’t think Ben’s idea of Qatar planes flying for Virgin is so far fetched. They essentially do that for Oman. Would wet leases get around the restrictions?!
Qantas should switch their partnership to Qatar. Would solve some of this tension and be able to oneworld coordinate to Asia and Europe with Cathay, Finnair, BA, JAL, Malaysia, Iberia—all who are QR friendly. But they won’t because they don’t want to compete with Emirates.
QR has looked at DL's success in active investment in partners and can't help but want to duplicate the DL strategy.
Swissair and Etihad invested in airlines that had limited viability and those airlines collapsed. While DL has had to take losses on some of its investments as those airlines restructured (QR took a loss on Latam just as DL did), the airlines have all survived.
Virgin Australia is being run as a business and...
QR has looked at DL's success in active investment in partners and can't help but want to duplicate the DL strategy.
Swissair and Etihad invested in airlines that had limited viability and those airlines collapsed. While DL has had to take losses on some of its investments as those airlines restructured (QR took a loss on Latam just as DL did), the airlines have all survived.
Virgin Australia is being run as a business and cut widebody flying. Your theory, Ben, about returning those 777s to Virgin Australia could very well be true - and it could also give QR indirect access to other markets including Australia to the US.
Ah, remember back in the day when some people were speculating if Virgin Australia could or should join Star Alliance? Those days are long gone.
completely accurate.
Virgin Australia needs cash more than friends that don't have cash.
Qatar needs better access to Australia.
QR wins over alliance relationships.
Eh, there are friends with cash that it could have benefited from.
Transferring aircraft to Virgin Australia for them to relaunch long-haul flights to a single destination all because they can't get right to operate more flights themselves seems needlessly complicated. Would they be wet-leased with QR crew and product?
Surely its much easier to just apply again for more flight rights to Australia, following a big marketing campaign to pressure the government? Have they even applied again? The massive backlash the government received last time for...
Transferring aircraft to Virgin Australia for them to relaunch long-haul flights to a single destination all because they can't get right to operate more flights themselves seems needlessly complicated. Would they be wet-leased with QR crew and product?
Surely its much easier to just apply again for more flight rights to Australia, following a big marketing campaign to pressure the government? Have they even applied again? The massive backlash the government received last time for denying their application is unlikely to happen again.
Been surprised by how hard it is to gain more flight rights for QR. Their lobbying has been surprisingly ineffective. They have been fighting for so long in India that they now have passengers take IndiGo (a low cost carrier) on DEL-DOH and other similar legs. And QR still can't fly to Canada at all.
*Correction they can fly to Canada but not above their current single service to Montreal (YUL), which leaves Toronto (YYZ) unfilled. They previously had an AC codeshare YYZ-DOH
Both the Australian and Canadian governments are good at coddling their local monopolists/oligopolists and those companies' preferred partners. it's not just air travel. See also telecoms and banks. Consumers suffer with higher prices and a lack of innovation.
Qatar (the country) has applied again for expanding the Qatar-Australia bilateral.
Transferring aircraft from QR to VA to operate AU-DOH flights under a damp-lease (QR Pilots + VA Flight Attendants) using the Australian rights I'd assume will likely be a last resort if the application gets knocked again.
That second theory of transferring wide-body planes to VA is certainly interesting. I remember when VA flew to Abu Dhabi to complement Etihad flights, but operated no flights to Singapore (much more in demand for Aussie travellers) to complement Singapore Airlines despite the Open Skies agreement Singapore & Australia had in place.
Will VA just complement QR flights to Doha, or start expanding into SE Asia like KUL & BKK? Qatar has MH in KUL,...
That second theory of transferring wide-body planes to VA is certainly interesting. I remember when VA flew to Abu Dhabi to complement Etihad flights, but operated no flights to Singapore (much more in demand for Aussie travellers) to complement Singapore Airlines despite the Open Skies agreement Singapore & Australia had in place.
Will VA just complement QR flights to Doha, or start expanding into SE Asia like KUL & BKK? Qatar has MH in KUL, but they operate plenty of daily flights to BKK which would surely make connections seamless. Or… HKG? So many possibilities!
This is enough to make your head spin. Especially given I will fly Virgin A on Wednesday in Australia and crediting the miles to United. I guess the trend of polyamorous is spreading around - even into the airline industry.
So a OneWorld airline invests in the biggest competitor of a fellow OneWorld airline?
What a crazy industry!
To me this is really a reflection of Qantas having no real commitment to oneworld. Qantas partnered with Emirates first... what choice does QR have for the Aus market? And this is not isolated either, QF also had a terrible relationship with CX
I'd say relations between QF and CX has improved to "Frenemy" status (seeing both regularly send their aircraft to each other's maintenance facilities), but they are stuck at limited code sharing from secondary Australian-HK routes (ex-ADL/PER and seasonal CNS) as a JV on Aus/HK routes will likely be blocked by regulators on both ends.
I think it’s a mix of things…
When the EK partnership started, oneworld couldn’t really help it in Europe. They were partnered with BA which was great for London but meant a lot of backtracking for other destinations. CX had a few European destinations but not many. QR wasn’t part of oneworld and didn’t have the same extensive European network it does today.
Emirates had extensive European network and was a competitive threat both...
I think it’s a mix of things…
When the EK partnership started, oneworld couldn’t really help it in Europe. They were partnered with BA which was great for London but meant a lot of backtracking for other destinations. CX had a few European destinations but not many. QR wasn’t part of oneworld and didn’t have the same extensive European network it does today.
Emirates had extensive European network and was a competitive threat both to Dubai but they also flew fifth freedom to Singapore, Bangkok and New Zealand. Emirates wanted Australian domestic connections. So it made sense to partner.
Things have changed and partnering with Qatar makes more sense now… particularly that QR are friendly with a lot of oneworld airlines. But I think QF fear Emirates if they were to dump the partnership and have to compete.
Things may change. AA hated Qatar too. Now they are friends.