Qantas and Air NZ are in secret negotiations to take a maniority stake in the Kiwi airline.

Qantas is seeking as much as 25 per cent shareholding in Air NZ and are in negotiations over several agreements that will see Air NZ move to oneworld alliance. This will further strengthen oneworld's presence in the Australiasian market, espcially the Pacific Islands.

On the other hand, the Air NZ move would be a blow to Star Alliance as it would lose out on the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island markets. Already, Star Alliance has no presence in the Australian market and soon, there will be no Star Alliance in New Zealand and Pacific Islands.

Therefore, all the boosting that Star Alliance has been doing over the past few years will just end up in the water as they would not be able to call themselves a truely global airline as they would not have any representation in Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands.

I am looking forward to the day when Air NZ makes an announcement to join the oneworld alliance. This will be a doon say for Star Alliance.

And what benefit would OW get from gaining ANZ? It has NO flat beds and their biz is about the same as QF if not worse. Ok, their coach has more room in it but still, where's the benefit??

Hmmm. It looks like the biggest STAR ALLIANCE member to fly to Australia/New Zealand after that will be SINGAPORE AIRLINES.

Ooo I can see SQ mounting quadruple flights a day to SYD, MEL and AKL and they'd all be full !!

maybe that's what oneworld Fan means by "doon say"....

Your source? For someone who is so factually concerned you seem to be jumping not only the gun, but the entire firearms factory here.

Is SQ bigger than UA? I know SQ's more profitable but with regards to airline size which is larger?

[This message has been edited by kanebear (edited 06-01-2002).]

There are indeed new rumours about this topic. You can refer to a neutral article giving facts and no vague mix of speculation & facts & information hiding as above: http://www.airlinequality.com/news/qantas.htm .


[This message has been edited by LH738 (edited 06-01-2002).]

UA "wins" on number of aircrafts, number of passengers, turnover, ... - UA is much more bigger.
I think Guy Betsy wants to tell us that SQ has the most flights and destinations to/in Australia and New Zealand.

Might not QF benefit by having a piece of NZ and keeping them in Star thereby "having their fingers in both pies" so to speak?

... and what about price control? A paradise for QF without any BIG competitor.

I think the biggest benefit for OW if NZ joins (and that is pure speculation and a huge conclusion to jump to based on QF and NZ talking part ownership) would be NZ leaving *A.

Note that Australia and NZ will still be served by several *A carriers, with UA and SQ taking up the slack left by NZ's US, Aus and Asia sectors. What they will lose is NZ domestic (lost Australian domestic last September) and access to many Pacific Island routes. Not a major issue for *A I would think.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1...584a11,FF.html

Air NZ sell off: Aussies in secret talks

By ROELAND van den BERGH
Qantas and the Government are in secret negotiations for the Australians to buy a big part of Air New Zealand � perhaps as much as half, sources say.

The Government stands to make about $200 million profit if it sells part of its holding in Air New Zealand to Qantas, but it would keep about half of the airline's shares.

Air New Zealand and Qantas have hired merchant banks on both sides of the Tasman to work on the deal, which would inject hundreds of millions of dollars into Air New Zealand.

Qantas reiterated this week that it was in acquisition mode and last week boss Geoff Dixon said he was still interested in a deal with Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand's share price has risen in spectacular fashion in recent days. The company is now valued at $2.8 billion.

The shares rose another six cents to close at 68c yesterday, but traded as high as 72c, which market observers said showed that a deal was afoot. Air New Zealand's unveiling of its new-look domestic service was not enough to boost the shares so high, they said.

One scenario could be for Qantas to pump in about $300 million to buy 20 per cent of Air New Zealand through the issue of new shares. That would mean the Government would not have to put more taxpayer money into the airline after its $885 million bailout last year.

In return, Qantas would take management control of Air New Zealand, but the Government would still hold about 65 per cent of the airline.

Qantas would also pull out of the New Zealand domestic market. It would then move to buy up to 50 per cent of Air New Zealand through the purchase of 15 per cent of the Government's holding and the rest from other shareholders. The deal would give the Government an opportunity in an election year to make a $196 million profit.

Qantas, which plans to spend billions of dollars on new aircraft during the next 10 years, could rationalise its fleet and schedules if Air New Zealand was included.

Engineering could be done at Air New Zealand's world-class Christchurch maintenance base, taking advantage of lower wage costs.

Qantas awarded Air New Zealand a contract this month worth up to $16 million to refit up to 15 Boeing 747-400s.

Air New Zealand spokesman David Beatson said the airline was in talks with Qantas over feeder traffic in Australia, but he was unaware of any other discussions. Analysts considered those talks bizarre, given that Qantas was Air New Zealand's main competitor and a member of a rival airline alliance.

A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Michael Cullen said: "The (Air New Zealand) board has put no proposal to the Government, at this stage."

If these negotiations are secret, why do we know so much about them?

FewMiles..

------------------
[ FlyerTalkers' Resources on the Web ]
[ Unofficial Guide to AAdvantage ] [ Unofficial oneworld Info Desk ]