Blackcloud

No VA was done to get around air service agreements which state the ownership requirements for airlines to access international air traffic rights, and to allow the domestic operation to increase it access to foreign investment.
The Qantas Sale Act prohibits QF from doing this and they have wanted ammend the Act to allow this to occur, and other restrictions only applied to them, so that the playing field could be more level.

Himeno

Qantas Sale Amendment (Still Call Australia Home) Bill 2011 Second Reading debate speeches:
Xenophon, Sen Nick: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/...b623%2F0000%22
Sterle, Sen Glenn: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/...b623%2F0000%22
Joyce, Sen Barnaby: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/...b623%2F0000%22
Ludlam, Sen Scott: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/...b623%2F0000%22
Edwards, Sen Sean: http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/...b623%2F0000%22

Josh43

Here's an interesting article on this change from the former chief economist at Qantas:

http://www.theage.com.au/business/hi...522-1z2jr.html

VHOEJ

Tony Webber is a rent-a-quote these days - he has as much creditibility as anyone who has ever worked for the airline in thier life.

Trust Xenophon to have a whinge.........

uxb

Can't speculate because that is against the rules. Suffice it to say that I didn't actually say the word.

dddc

Have they formed a holding company that stradles the two? Qantas Airline Group perhaps? Another opportunity for execs to earn nice bundle perhaps...

QF Lad

Interesting suggestion from one of the readers of the article for QF to abandon the BA joint arrangement in favour of an arrangement with a Middle Eastern carrier, to enable better access to cities in Europe.

Up until relatively recently QF had a codeshare with Etihad, but I believe it was mainly for passengers heading to the Middle East. It was a lost opportunity for QF not to have expanded the Etihad arrangement further to allow one-stop hopping into Europe via Abu Dhabi instead of SIN/BKK/HKG (or now just SIN). Until something along these lines eventuates I guess we will be heading for our European destinations via LHR when travelling to Europe on QF.

eamus

The announcement was that they would separate Domestic and International into separate businesses, not separate companies. There is no reason that cannot be done under a single corporate umbrella. Having them report their results separately is commonly done as segment reporting. The consolidated results still roll up, but it gives investors clarity into how the [supposedly different] segments are performing on a standalone basis. Maybe they will separate them into different companies, but I don't think they need to right now.

Personally I think the aim is to show how International loses money as a way of laying the groundwork for some initiative(s) to build standalone profitability in International operations, rather than having Domestic support International and mask its problems. Whether that is fare hikes, partnerships, spin-off and investment, who knows. You can imagine, though, that they can better go cap-in-hand to the government looking for more flexibility if they can show that International loses money. Risk of losing an Australian icon. Public service. Competition. Blah, blah, blah.

I agree with Og, this is all deja vu for those of us old enough to remember TAA.

Cedar Jet

I agree totally. I used this EY codeshare to BEY, BAH, RUH, DXB, AUH and DOH a few times and it was excellent. Left me high and dry with only QF/RJ to the region which is fiddly and RJ, while good, not up to EY standards at all. Only plus with RJ is a potential stop-over in HKG and/or BKK if you have the time.

I heard Emirates mentioned today as a potential partner.....the most overrated carrier Ive ever come accross. It would certainly knock EY/VA partnership(& Mr Borghetti) out of the water. That said, there are rumours EY and EK will eventually merge as AUH keps bailing out DXB.....who knows....interesting times.

CJ

bensyd

This is exactly what I thought. There's no other reason for needing to do it.

docbert

If they are looking to brand them differently, I'd suggest the following :

"Qantas" for the International brand
"Ansett" for the Domestic brand

I'm getting the strangest form of Deja Vu right now for some reason...

flyGreg

I'm sure Virgin Australia considered rebranding as "Ansett" on quite a serious level....

Qantas will never rebrand, even if the ownership of Qantas domestic & int'l splinters.