Analysts shrug off Fernandes’ proposed airline
TravelMole appeared to be something of an orphan last week in questioning whether a rumoured new airline being touted by AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes was really a threat to the new Qantas start up in Asia, RedQ.
Now others are coming to a similar view.
Fernandes, has been uncharacteristically silent on reports that the airline, be known as Caterham Jet, would compete head-on with Qantas’ upcoming RedQ super-premium airline.
Checks by Malaysia media with officials at Malaysia Airports Holdings and the Department of Civil Aviation showed that neither had been approached on the idea.
It also appears to flout the recent agreement between Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia to align their operations more closely.
“Such a move by Fernandes does seem like it is going against its collaborative agreement with MAS and would hurt MAS’ premium plans,” OSK Research analyst Ahmad Maghfur Usman told Business Times.
Another issue raised was whether the government would agree to such plan.
“The whole concept of the deal between AirAsia and MAS was to have a healthy ecosystem in the aviation industry. How would this fit in with that? It appears to be at odds with it,” said another analyst.
Ian Jarrett
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