Unfortuantely, QF doesn't have a lot of choice. CA is tied up with CX with their cross-shareholding and CZ, with their hub in CAN, would definitely not be interested in establishing a LCC at an airport less than 100miles away.

The other viable option is HU (the Hainan Airlines Group) but they have an existing interest in the HKG market with Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express already. Although there were rumors that Hong Kong Express was going to be re-launched as JQ HK.

Will be interesting to see where JQ HK will fly to? I am guessing it would be secondary cities in China seeing that major cities such as PEK, PVG/SHA are well served by many carriers.