Qantas tipped to launch new Asia-based airline
Qantas is said to be planning a premium airline but where it will be based depends on which newspaper you are reading.
The Australian Financial Review reports that Qantas will establish a new premium airline based in Singapore as part of chief executive Alan Joyce’s strategy to drive growth in Asia and slash costs, “but at the risk of inflaming already fraught relations with its unionsâ€.
THE AFR says the move is the biggest change in Qantas’s strategy since the creation of low-cost carrier Jetstar in 2003.
New airline will have as many as 20 aircraft in Singapore, AFR says.
The Age, meanwhile, says the new operation will be based in Malaysia “to widen its (Qantas) network in Asia and service the region’s fast-growing corporate travel market”.
The Age says a team led by a senior executive, Lesley Grant, has been reviewing the airline’s loss-making international operations since January, including looking at whether to revamp inflight products, open new routes or ditch underperforming services.
”At this stage we don’t have any options to rule in or out,” Qantas’s government relations boss, Olivia Wirth, said.
“We are going to be investigating all options but [a Malaysia-based airline] is purely speculation.”
The long-haul pilots’ union said it believed Qantas was looking to set up a premium airline in Malaysia which could connect to a hub in China’s business capital, Shanghai, and provide onward flights to Europe.
Ian Jarrett
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