EY ups stake in VA to 21.24%

[markis10]

Slowly creeping up.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20140519/pdf/42pq1f0lpv5rch.pdf

 

[TomVexille]

Keeping up with the others?

 

[samh004]

How much longer till all their shares are owned by 3 overseas airlines/their governments, and VA are basically a private company?

 

[Himeno]

Wouldn't this be getting close to the limit when VA can't be considered an "Australian Carrier"?

 

[TomVexille]

How much longer till all their shares are owned by 3 overseas airlines/their governments, and VA are basically a private company?

Not much longer at this rate

Wouldn't this be getting close to the limit when VA can't be considered an "Australian Carrier"?

An Act of foreign ownership trickery - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[lovestotravel]

So what's in this for EY, SQ - Longer term I seem them flying AUS-USA and NZ well they want NZ customers.....

 

[dk4]

How much longer till all their shares are owned by 3 overseas airlines/their governments, and VA are basically a private company?

LOL full circle to how they started out in Australia, 100% privately foreign owned by the UK's Virgin Group.

Thank goodness for foreign investment, or Qantas could be charging an even more outrageous amount of money, for a service that would have been "enhanced" to even less than third world standards!

 

[samh004]

So what's in this for EY, SQ - Longer term I seem them flying AUS-USA and NZ well they want NZ customers.....

NZ wants less competition with their services

I recall Pacific Blue, while loss making, was well regarded and offered great service, until it closed because of an alliance

 

[Aussie_flyer]

yet the public are enraged that Qantas could be majority foreign owned yet they don't mind if its Virgin AUSTRALIA

 

[dajop]

Wouldn't this be getting close to the limit when VA can't be considered an "Australian Carrier"?

The company operating VA's international services must be at least 50% Australian owned, as for the domestic operations, it doesn't matter so much. I guess the fact it flies around Australia, employees thousands of Australians directly and indirectly, means it is still an Australian Carrier, just like Tim Tam's and Vegemite are considered Australian products, even though they are in fact US owned, no-one would consider Vegemite to be American!

 

[atreides]

More EY and SQ

Less NZ

 

[anat0l]

Wouldn't this be getting close to the limit when VA can't be considered an "Australian Carrier"?

Apart from adopting the name of the nation in their airline name (and flying the flag motif with the flying maiden), since when has VA ever actually exuded or proclaimed any particular pride in being an Australian carrier, or being Australian for that matter? It's not even to the extent where the bigger brother Virgin Atlantic provocatively announced that they were the British flag carrier.

This is why no one cares as much about the "Australianism" of Virgin Australia compared to Qantas, because as far as everyone else is concerned, there are either already real doubts as to whether VA is Australian anyway, or... guess what... people just don't care. It's just another airline, and it just so happens it is the other airline that flies domestically in Australia (barring all the other smaller fish).

Of course, the free market says anything goes, so long as it complies with the law. You could sell offal as prime cut meat as long as people are willing to believe and buy it.

 

[777]

I recall Pacific Blue, while loss making, was well regarded and offered great service, until it closed because of an alliance

It closed before the alliance. I doubt the NZ competition authorities would have approved if it had happened the other way around.

 

[Fruitcake]

It closed before the alliance. I doubt the NZ competition authorities would have approved if it had happened the other way around.

Virgin Australia New Zealand (ie Pacific Blue) is still in existence flying ZK registered 737s on behalf of Virgin Australia. They perform a similar role for VA that Jetconnect does for QF.

I suspect that if it were not for the original franchise limitations on the use of "Virgin" in the name of an airline flying non-domestic routes that Pacific Blue would have been known as Virgin Blue NZ from its beginning.

 

[777]

Virgin Australia New Zealand (ie Pacific Blue) is still in existence flying ZK registered 737s on behalf of Virgin Australia. They perform a similar role for VA that Jetconnect does for QF.

I suspect that if it were not for the original franchise limitations on the use of "Virgin" in the name of an airline flying non-domestic routes that Pacific Blue would have been known as Virgin Blue NZ from its beginning.

I assumed the post was referring to Pacific Blue domestic NZ ops which are no longer but ended before the NZ/VA tie up.

 

[Fruitcake]

I assumed the post was referring to Pacific Blue domestic NZ ops which are no longer but ended before the NZ/VA tie up.

100% correct re the domestic ops, I didn't think of those. Thanks.

 

[Himeno]

Apart from adopting the name of the nation in their airline name (and flying the flag motif with the flying maiden), since when has VA ever actually exuded or proclaimed any particular pride in being an Australian carrier, or being Australian for that matter? It's not even to the extent where the bigger brother Virgin Atlantic provocatively announced that they were the British flag carrier.

If they want access to Australian international route rights, they have to be majority Australian owned.

 

[dajop]

If they want access to Australian international route rights, they have to be majority Australian owned.

Not true, only the subsidiary that wants access to Australian international route rights needs to be majority Australian owned, so clever organisations can set up a structure and arrangements between companies to facilitate this. VA does not have any international route rights, but provides operational services to Virgin Australia International Operations Pty Ltd, which has a separate ownership structure (albeit of as I can understand minimal shareholder value), which does have international rights. One can argue whether this is in the "spirit" of the law, but it certainly complies with it, otherwise VA wouldn't be flying to LAX or AUH.

 

[under the radar]

The company operating VA's international services must be at least 50% Australian owned, as for the domestic operations, it doesn't matter so much.

so ALL the international services using 737s are operated by VAs 'international arm/company'? (I don't think so )

 

[dajop]

The company operating VA's international services must be at least 50% Australian owned, as for the domestic operations, it doesn't matter so much.

so ALL the international services using 737s are operated by VAs 'international arm/company'? (I don't think so )

IIRC, the way it is structured that VA provides services to VAIO Pty Ltd, and those services would include flying the planes, selling the tickets and of course maintaining the aircraft, so I don't see why not. I imagine the DPS/HKT services would have to be under this arrangement, but the NZ services wouldn't need to be, due to separate agreements governing AU/NZ/TT market.