[BrotherJim]

Edski777, as mentioned it was the opposition party that got through the changes not the government. Credit where it is due.

Also your right Qantas cannot compete to Europe, just like European airlines cannot compete to Aus due to the ME carriers. But Qantas does still have Asia and the US where it can work and work well and doesn’t face the middle east competition.

transtraxman Virgin Australia doesn’t fly to Singapore either. They are part owned by Singapore airlines and code share to Singapore.
Long haul they only fly to the LAX and AUH (Etihad is also an owner).

Ekond222 why would Easy jet want Qantas. If orange is the solution then Qantas has their own orange airline that could be rebranded as Qantas and converted to a low cost full service airline. Many think that is the grand plan.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello transtaxman,

You must have missed the piece we published last Februray when it was first announced that Virgin Atlantic was withdrawing from the Sydney route.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/100202/virgin-atlantic-to-withdraw-from-australia

As BrotherJim notes above, Virgin Australia does not serve the Sydney-Singapore route itself. Instead it code-shares with SIA.

When you check LHR-SYD flights with virgin-atlantic.com you are simply offered code-shares with SIA. If you wish to book via HKG with Virgin Atlantic then you would have to pay much much more because there are no carriers on the direct HKG-SYD sector which have preferential ticketing agreements with Virgin Atlantic.

[JohnHarper]

BrotherJim – 22/07/2014 11:11 GMT

I think you’ll find that SIA sold their share of Virgin to Delta about a year ago. They do however still have some codeshares.

[BrotherJim]

John, yes SIA sold their share in Virgin Atlantic to Delta, but what I said was “Virgin Australia doesn’t fly to Singapore either. They are part owned by Singapore airlines and code share to Singapore.”

Virgin Australia is still very much owned by SIA along with AirNz and Ethiad. Unlike Qantas they have no restriction on foreign ownership, except of course when it comes to carriage rights to international destinations, but they get around this by operating the international flights by an subsidiary that is 100% owned by the Australia listed Virgin Australia Holdings, which in turn is owned by the 3 airlines mentioned and others.

Out of interest when SIA owned Virgin Atlantic, they also owned (or had veto on the use of) the Virgin name on international airlines. Hence why when Virgin Blue (the predecessor to Virgin Australia) started international flying they had to call themselves Pacific Blue and later for long haul V Australia. However once SIA brought their share in the then Virgin Blue they allowed them to rebrand domestically and internationally using the Virgin Australia name. Then of course sold Virgin Atlantic. I wonder who holds the name rights now? But I digress.

[WillieWelsh]

Maybe the header to this thread should be changed to Does Qantas have a future? Emirates have basically gutted their westbound offering and reduced them to a regional carrier in that direction, yes there are two A380s a day to LHR but would not EK be able to absorb the QF capacity if QF were not there?

Across the Pacific is a different matter for so long as protection and bi-laterals last but they won’t last for ever.

As others think, I’m not surprised that EK don’t want to invest, they have got everything without investment and the change in the law is too little too late.

[TheRealBabushka]

Reducing capacity or pulling out of LHR altogether is anathema to the Qantas and Australian psyche. For that reason alone, they will continue to service LHR twice daily a majority of the time. There are a dwindling number of international ports that Qantas flies to. Psychologically retaining a London service provides comfort that they are still a top-tier international airline.

[6Continents]

The future of Qantas was in Oneworrld, Qantas is the Oneworld misfit who’s tail is now wagged by the Arabs.

[Author]

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