Qatar Airways to acquire 25% of Virgin Australia

[twinaisle]

People love jumping the gun with their conspiracy theories hey. It's 25% investment. I'm pretty sure nothing too drastic will change.

 

[HS-TQE]

Agreed. If there was to be any (if at all) joint lounge arrangements between VA and QR for all international flights (including VA short haul internationa), chances are it'll be in partnership with a third party contractor operating it than either party operating it themselves (which those scenarios is next to zero chance).

 

[ozstamps]

People love jumping the gun with their conspiracy theories hey. It's 25% investment

And AFAIK has NOT yet been approved by the relevant regulators here, correct? Likely - YES. Certain - NO.

 

[twinaisle]

Agreed. If there was to be any (if at all) joint lounge arrangements between VA and QR for all international flights (including VA short haul internationa), chances are it'll be in partnership with a third party contractor operating it than either party operating it themselves (which those scenarios is next to zero chance).

Well I guess the LCC+ model now doesn't even care around lounge access.

They'll announce stuff when they do but in the meantime there's priority pass

 

[RooFlyer]

But importantly QR doesn’t discriminate by airline. All of their lounges allow oneworld premium pax.

No, they don't (re OW premium pax). Al Safwa First does not admit Oneworld Emerald, which they should under OW rules. Its for First pax only. OW Emerald get shunted to the 'Platinum' lounge, as I said. Try it next time you are there.

Point I made stands. QR could establish an exclusive lounge, not observing OW rules, if they chose to. Whether or not they did choose, is another question.

 

[twinaisle]

No, they don't (re OW premium pax). Al Safwa First does not admit Oneworld Emerald, which they should under OW rules. Its for First pax only. OW Emerald get shunted to the 'Platinum' lounge, as I said. Try it next time you are there.

Point I made stands. QR could establish an exclusive lounge, not observing OW rules, if they chose to. Whether or not they did choose, is another question.

But what does all this have to do with them investing 25% into VA?

 

[jase05]

No, they don't (re OW premium pax). Al Safwa First does not admit Oneworld Emerald, which they should under OW rules. Its for First pax only. OW Emerald get shunted to the 'Platinum' lounge, as I said. Try it next time you are there.

Point I made stands. QR could establish an exclusive lounge, not observing OW rules, if they chose to. Whether or not they did choose, is another question.

I absolutely love QR’s setup at DOH and fully support the Al Safwa access rules but I just can’t see anything like that happening here.
They may have a bottomless money pit but they are often shrewd with their decisions and it just doesn’t make any business sense whatsoever to build lounges in Australia for a couple of flights per day and for an airline they own a tiny 25% of. I’m sure they will have a workaround though

 

[RooFlyer]

But what does all this have to do with them investing 25% into VA?

About as much as a lot of discussion on AFF has about the actual topic, after a while. What would we do if not discuss possibilities, wishes etc?

I was going to say any possible QR lounges could/would be shared with the VA flights. Would that do?

 

[twinaisle]

About as much as a lot of discussion on AFF has about the actual topic, after a while. What would we do if not discuss possibilities, wishes etc?

I was going to say any possible QR lounges could/would be shared with the VA flights. Would that do?

As nice as it would be to imagine the would open their own QR lounges in Australia I doubt that would happen.

Look at what happened to the House last time EY/VA went together for a joint adventure. QR/VA are disciplined these days so I doubt they'd throw money for a lounge to cater for pax who upgrade to J for $200.

They barely want to spend extra money providing a bread roll or a dessert on the J tray

 

[justinbrett]

No, they don't (re OW premium pax). Al Safwa First does not admit Oneworld Emerald, which they should under OW rules. Its for First pax only. OW Emerald get shunted to the 'Platinum' lounge, as I said. Try it next time you are there.

Point I made stands. QR could establish an exclusive lounge, not observing OW rules, if they chose to. Whether or not they did choose, is another question.

Not talking about OWE.

QF and other F/J pax would get access to a QR lounge. That’s the point. They’d have to completely change their lounge rules to exclude them, and thus see my posts about why bespoke rules for Australia isn’t going to happen.

Unless QR leaves oneworld.

Edit - Premium = F/J; Elite is status.

 

[ozstamps]

Well if this stake is actually approved, and if the wet lease Qatar planes plans are also approved, it seems the Air NZ Lounge in SYD will be the go for the apparent VA flights.

Getting to be quite a zoo in there these days at many times, so this will add to it.

The one plus is, if Virgin need to do a deal for that, it might mean Biz pax to Pacific etc on Virgin metal also can FINALLY have some lounge access. A joke there is none now.

 

[SYD]

As nice as it would be to imagine the would open their own QR lounges in Australia I doubt that would happen.

Look at what happened to the House last time EY/VA went together for a joint adventure.

“The House” was 100% EY doing and was really good when it opened - pretty much a cookie cutter of similar lounges around the world eg CDG.

VA much later on succumbed to customer pressure and negotiated a deal with “The House” as the VA partner lounge for VA flights various.

QR/VA are disciplined these days so I doubt they'd throw money for a lounge to cater for pax who upgrade to J for $200.

Yep, QR can be cheap and direct their J PAX to partner lounges rather than other OW lounges (even THE Oneworld lounge in AMS)….

They barely want to spend extra money providing a bread roll or a dessert on the J tray

Yep.

 

[HS-TQE]

“The House” was 100% EY doing and was really good when it opened - pretty much a cookie cutter of similar lounges around the world eg CDG.

VA much later on succumbed to customer pressure and negotiated a deal with “The House” as the VA partner lounge for VA flights various.

The House was established by the then-owner "No 1 Lounges", who bought the lounges from Etihad. The House largely kept most of the EY interior when they took it over after buying it from EY.

EY were selling non-core assets around the world when they landed into financial trouble after the failed Equity Partners scheme, which led to James Hogan being moved on and the subsequent replacement CEO(s) were brought in to clean up Hogan's huge financial mess which sent the airline into (their equivalent of) administration which took some years to rectify.

 

[SYD]

The House was established by the then-owner "No 1 Lounges", who bought the lounges from Etihad. The House largely kept most of the EY interior when they took it over after buying it from EY.

EY were selling non-core assets around the world when they landed into financial trouble after the failed Equity Partners scheme, which led to James Hogan being moved on and the subsequent replacement CEO(s) were brought in to clean up Hogan's huge financial mess which sent the airline into (their equivalent of) administration which took some years to rectify.

Yep.

 

[serfty]

[Moderator hat]

​

Enough of the Off Topic lounge discussion. Further such may lead to sanction.​

​

[/Moderator hat]

 

[Danger]

I just can’t see QR investing in their own lounges for a couple of flights per day. Much easier just to organise lounge access via third party lounges.

Interestingly Mrs Jase had a good chat with a QR crew member on our recent flight and she exchanged phone numbers with us and offered to show us around Doha if we had time. We went out to tea with her on the first night there and she commented on how excited the staff were about the potential take over as many of the staff love being rostered on to the Australian routes so potentially a lot more opportunities for them. We told her to drop us a line next time she’s in Adelaide

Pardon me: "take over"?

 

[jase05]

Pardon me: "take over"?

Yes, I didn’t pull her up on it though

 

[twinaisle]

The same 25.1% takeover like BA

 

[MooTime]

Think we need to hear from Mr. TaKeOVah......

I haven't seen takeover written correctly in some time.

 

[Harrison_133]

In their application to the ACCC, Virgin have requested interim authorisation for Doha flights by November 2024 with a June 2025 launch to coincide with the peak summer period.

They also state that if they cannot commence flying by June 2025, it would not be financially viable to start flights until December 2025 and the launch would be delayed to coincide with the December/January peak period.

Source: Virgin wants ACCC to greenlight Qatar wet-lease by next month