Qatar Airways may buy Virgin Australia in full - what are the consequences?

[jase05]

I’ve read some funny things but geez that almost tops the lot.
As others have said QR can’t and won’t be majority shareholders much less owning VA outright. They may purchase a 20% stake at some stage which is no different to what they have with IAG and the world hasn’t collapsed from that. QF will still remain the largest airline in Australia for some time but maybe QF can stop treating those that don’t live in the East like lepers and we might support them more.

 

[RSVKanga]

QF will still remain the largest airline in Australia for some time

Okay so you too agree that QR will overtake QF as Australia’s largest airline operator, just not immediately, which is the same view I hold.

maybe QF can stop treating those that don’t live in the East like lepers

It’s really your semi-militant former airport management who presented significant roadblocks to QF’s planned services to JNB, AKL and CGK. I’m also not sure why you’re severely underestimating the value of the direct flights to LHR, CDG and FCO you get from QF from your city - and purely to serve your city only in the case of LHR (east connection to MEL ends July). But I think that’s a matter for another thread.

 

[jase05]

Okay so you too agree that QR will overtake QF as Australia’s largest airline operator, just not immediately, which is the same view I hold.

It’s really your semi-militant former airport management who presented significant roadblocks to QF’s planned services to JNB, AKL and CGK. I’m also not sure why you’re severely underestimating the value of the direct flights to LHR, CDG and FCO you get from QF from your city - and purely to serve your city only in the case of LHR (east connection to MEL ends July). But I think that’s a matter for another thread.

I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t see that far ahead but I’d imagine QF will remain the biggest in Australia during my lifetime.
And no, I don’t live in Perth, I’m based in Adelaide but QF really only cares about what happens in Sydney with a little bit of love to Melbourne and Brisbane. The rest of us don’t exist

 

[andye]

What competition? There is only one airline that flies between Australia and Qatar, unlike the 2 airlines that fly Australia-UAE, 7 airlines that fly Australia-Singapore, 4 airlines that fly Australia-China and 4 airlines that fly Australia-USA...

Oh come on..

What percentage of people's final destination is Qatar (or even Middle East)?
The competition is clearly for Aus-Europe,

(Though there might be a bit more Aus-SE Asia if QR got some 5th freedom flights)

And QR is not out of the question for US East Coast

 

[justinbrett]

This thread is getting ridiculous.

Tell me more about QF flying to YYZ, that suddenly seems more believable.

 

[dajop]

What competition? There is only one airline that flies between Australia and Qatar, unlike the 2 airlines that fly Australia-UAE,

That is genuinely funny. As if Qatar don't have any competition!!!. Even travelling between Australia and Doha (without onwards) there are some viable one stop options.

 

[RooFlyer]

And QR is not out of the question for US East Coast

QR is an excellent choice for US East coast especially for the leper states such as WA, SA and TAS. I'm showing the fares I found in a random search later this year but these will rise and fall with sales etc.

Adelaide to New York on QR: one stop, about 25 hrs all up
New York to Adelaide on QR: one stop, about 27 hours all up
Fare for QR in J (QSuites, dine on-demand with great service and menus) about A$17.5K

Adelaide to New York on QF: two stops, about 25 hours all up
New York to Adelaide on QF: two stops, about 28 hors all up
Fare on QF in J (not QSuites, Neil Perry leaves, dine when-we-get-to-you-sometime, likely Bannockburn chicken something or other...) about $18K.

From/to Perth would be a bigger difference in favour of QR both in fare and time.

 

[justinbrett]

I wonder why Qatar hasn’t tried to get US preclearance at DOH. That’s a significant advantage for EY out of AUH.

 

[RSVKanga]

QR is an excellent choice for US East coast especially for the leper states such as WA, SA and TAS. I'm showing the fares I found in a random search later this year but these will rise and fall with sales etc.

Adelaide to New York on QR: one stop, about 25 hrs all up
New York to Adelaide on QR: one stop, about 27 hours all up
Fare for QR in J (QSuites, dine on-demand with great service and menus) about A$17.5K

Adelaide to New York on QF: two stops, about 25 hours all up
New York to Adelaide on QF: two stops, about 28 hors all up
Fare on QF in J (not QSuites, Neil Perry leaves, dine when-we-get-to-you-sometime, likely Bannockburn chicken something or other...) about $18K.

From/to Perth would be a bigger difference in favour of QR both in fare and time.

I struggle to understand how this advertisement-esque content is related to the thread topic. We’re not comparing prices and ‘who is best’ in this thread, so your comment screams of advertising, influencing and a commercial interest in QR.

 

[elanshin]

I still don't get why we're on this thread topic.

Should've ended at QR shouldn't be allowed to get majority control share, but can be a reasonably significant investor and ended there.

 

[RooFlyer]

I struggle to understand how this advertisement-esque content is related to the thread topic. We’re not comparing prices and ‘who is best’ in this thread, so your comment screams of advertising, influencing and a commercial interest in QR.

Sure; I've said before : just call me Akky

 

[SeaWolf]

I struggle to understand how this advertisement-esque content is related to the thread topic. We’re not comparing prices and ‘who is best’ in this thread, so your comment screams of advertising, influencing and a commercial interest in QR.

Come on, I don't think you're in a postion to be suggesting that anyone else is cheerleading for an airline.

 

[PERLHR]

What competition? There is only one airline that flies between Australia and Qatar, unlike the 2 airlines that fly Australia-UAE, 7 airlines that fly Australia-Singapore, 4 airlines that fly Australia-China and 4 airlines that fly Australia-USA.

Why do we want to expand the absolute monopoly that QR (and a foreign government) has on the Australia-Qatar market? It’s really you that’s advocating for anti-competitive business practices.

This monopoly will only get worse if/when QR buys VA. QR will utilise excess oil funds to supply excess aircraft and dirt cheap fare prices to VA, forcing QF out of business. Even if QF survives, QR might eventually become the largest airline in Australia by fleet size.

Because, simply, no one is overly interested in Qatar per se- they are however interested with the onward world wide connections, to be served on a competitive basis with a fare from Australia that perhaps does not require a mortgage. Thus, this is where the competition really happens. The mass majority I suspect leaving the Australian shores are actually on connections. It provides further options via DOH. No one is stopping Qantas flying to Doha. They choose not to just like they fly hardly anywhere else "further afield" apart from London, seasonal Rome and that place called Paris.

 

[andye]

..Also I'm pretty sure QR won't be able to get VA into OW either since QF has veto power as a OW founder....

Yes but even founder members of clubs can get uncomfortable when they don't have many friends there.
Realistically who now in OW is QFs friend?
Certainly not CX, MH, BA (who as well as being part-owned by QR have a major rivalry with EK) or QR obviously
Leaves AA, AS, AY and maybe JL (most of whom QF simply & fairly discourages flying) with the others being largely irrelevant

 

[clifford]

I can't in my wildest dreams see two OW carriers in a relatively small market such as Australia. VS has gone SkyTeam, so why not VA?

But you can fantasise...

 

[justinbrett]

Yes but even founder members of clubs can get uncomfortable when they don't have many friends there.
Realistically who now in OW is QFs friend?
Certainly not CX, MH, BA (who as well as being part-owned by QR have a major rivalry with EK) or QR obviously
Leaves AA, AS, AY and maybe JL (most of whom QF simply & fairly discourages flying) with the others being largely irrelevant

It’s not a matter of who is friends with who, all of those carriers excluding QR still primarily use QF for connections. AA and QF are tight which is enough to make the suggestion of QF leaving OW ludicrous.

Is VA going to stay a “value carrier” or is it going back to a full service carrier with long haul flights which is what bankrupted it last time?

If VA was going to join an alliance it would have in its full service days. Fat chance of it happening now, regardless of who buys it.

 

[tdimdad]

What competition? There is only one airline that flies between Australia and Qatar, unlike the 2 airlines that fly Australia-UAE, 7 airlines that fly Australia-Singapore, 4 airlines that fly Australia-China and 4 airlines that fly Australia-USA.

Did you just list 18 airlines while suggesting there is no competition? How much of the total traffic out of AU ends in Qatar? Even if you limited the numbers to ME direction only, is Qatar such a significant destination that it deserves special attention?

As others already have suggested, most of QR's traffic ex-Australia is likely to be through traffic to Europe, other parts of Middle East or Africa. QR happens to be one of the three convenient ME carriers for this purpose and then you have the rest which offer equally good connections to many parts of the world.

Only if QR upped their capacity to be many-fold from the current (let's say 'four-fold' for the sake conversation), it would start to show somewhere. And it possibly might be the other ME carriers impacted first before it dents QF or other carriers ex-AU.

 

[PERLHR]

This thread is getting ridiculous.

Tell me more about QF flying to YYZ, that suddenly seems more believable.

No its not ...it's quite educational actually. It provides quite a few differing views.

 

[Gold Member]

Come on, I don't think you're in a postion to be suggesting that anyone else is cheerleading for an airline.

Thank you for calling out the Elephant in the room, Seawolf.

FWIW, I was crucified in my "Open Letter" thread by the majority of AFF for suggesting that a very small number of Players like RSVKanga may have ulterior Political and Commercial motivations and interests. But despite the tiny sample of RSVKanaga's extensive and documented behaviour that you have highlighted above, it doesn't appear as if the AFF collective opinion has changed much.

 

[andye]

No its not ...it's quite educational actually. It provides quite a few differing views.

I think it feels like a dinner party with everyone several drinks in...