Qatar Airways to acquire 25% of Virgin Australia

[HS-TQE]

Speaking of Australian opportunities for the SQ group; OOL, NTL and MCY are also seasonal options for SQ (although may probably be subject to aviation fund funding from those states and those Airports) despite OOL failing for TR not long ago.

Getting back on topic: VA's NH partnership is also another one that is lacklustre and could be subject to 'not sticking around' on NH's decision (i.e their own struggling loads outside of peak season) rather than QR's.

 

[justinbrett]

Speaking of Australian opportunities for the SQ group; OOL, NTL and MCY are also seasonal options for SQ (although may probably be subject to aviation fund funding from those states and those Airports) despite OOL failing for TR not long ago.

Getting back on topic: VA's NH partnership is also another one that is lacklustre and could be subject to 'not sticking around' on NH's decision (i.e their own struggling loads outside of peak season) rather than QR's.

Maybe SQ, NZ and UA could start up a new Australian airline that’s in *A from the start. Call it Ansett!

Someone see if Vanessa Amorosi‘s available…

 

[Digicola]

Fact: VA's services to Abu Dhabi failed.
Fact: QF discontinued its flights to Dubai (whether you want to call that a "failure" or not is debatable and probably depends on your definitions).

QF discontinuing DXB was due to a disagreement. The current arrangement (mostly) works better for all parties involved.

QR was always going to want to take over the lion’s share of westbound traffic. I’ve long suggested that SQ take a defensive 25% stake but we’d soon get back to VA 1.0 problems.

Codeshare allocations on flights between AU and EU are very limited, VA has to split their legal allotment between SQ and QR (which is why EY was dropped in the first place) and thanks to this deal the SQ allotment will likely be reduced.

 

[HS-TQE]

Maybe SQ, NZ and UA could start up a new Australian airline that’s in *A from the start. Call it Ansett!

Someone see if Vanessa Amorosi‘s available…

Get Hoppa, Buckley a few other former NRL/AFL and Cricket players to walk in front of a Ansett plane and there ya go.

 

[HS-TQE]

QR was always going to want to take over the lion’s share of westbound traffic. I’ve long suggested that SQ take a defensive 25% stake but we’d soon get back to VA 1.0 problems.

Considering the AFR reports that Bain reps approached SQ directly as an alternative for QR for a direct 'cornerstone' stake and that they declined suggests they aren't willing to pump hundreds of millions on a 4th go at the Australian after failing the first three times.

SQ would 'had' been stuck in a hard place 'in the past', but their experiences in those failures in Australia probably had them investigate if they could fly to the larger regional Australian cities themselves rather than invest in a local Australian partner for the 4th time.

 

[zsw]

Losing SQ benefits would have a decent impact on a lot of velocity members on top of the 'refresh' from last week. I know a lot of people who make redemptions or cash tickets to Asia on SQ largely due to lounge & priority benefits. I'm sure Velocity has some insight into this and I would be surprised if they weren't aware of the importance of keeping these benefits to maintain some level of member happiness.

My reading of the submission is that SQ isn't being removed as a partner or having loyalty benefits removed, just that Qatar will be the only airline headquartered in the ME and Europe which will offer loyalty benefits and codeshare. I think the use of headquartered is very deliberate here, if it was any airline that flew to Europe that is a different story.

I do think SQ redemptions with Velocity points will no longer be offered for flights anywhere West of India, everything will be shifted across to Qatar.

As others have raised VA's attempt as Abu Dhabi flights didn't end great, nor were QF's to Dubai a resounding success. Wet lease or not VA and Qatar are probably putting some of the above in to ensure that they are actually a success.

 

[elanshin]

Losing SQ benefits would have a decent impact on a lot of velocity members on top of the 'refresh' from last week. I know a lot of people who make redemptions or cash tickets to Asia on SQ largely due to lounge & priority benefits. I'm sure Velocity has some insight into this and I would be surprised if they weren't aware of the importance of keeping these benefits to maintain some level of member happiness.

My reading of the submission is that SQ isn't being removed as a partner or having loyalty benefits removed, just that Qatar will be the only airline headquartered in the ME and Europe which will offer loyalty benefits and codeshare. I think the use of headquartered is very deliberate here, if it was any airline that flew to Europe that is a different story.

The real question here is - Is this change for VA and its customers or for Bain. Remember that there are very different goals in mind for the two parties. Whats good for QR and Bain may not be the best option for VA long term.

As others have raised VA's attempt as Abu Dhabi flights didn't end great, nor were QF's to Dubai a resounding success. Wet lease or not VA and Qatar are probably putting some of the above in to ensure that they are actually a success.

QR gets additional flights that they've wanted (and likely has data to back up the need) . On top of that, they would have locked out a lot of their ME competitors just as Australia is coming into their radar.

TK is already looking into the Australian market, they're not ideal yet as a 2 hop airline but the plans to fly direct to IST then europe is their plan once they get the aircraft. Also, I do think QR sees RX as a very serious threat and thus locking out a potential future Australian partner. RX has the money and position to parallel QRs own rise over the next 5-10 years.

 

[Warragul]

So VA dumps EY… we all saw that coming.

QR dumps all ties with QF including interline… except for oneworld requirements. It also only specifies it won’t codeshare on other international flights, so I think QR can keep selling QFd. Basically, status quo.

Earning QF status credits on QR flights to Europe still safe? Thinking of booking such for next September.

 

[jakeseven7]

Losing SQ benefits would have a decent impact on a lot of velocity members on top of the 'refresh' from last week.

I agree and I suspect the next thing that will be enhanced will the the SQ KrisFlyer trap door / escape hatch transfer….. or they just enhance the transfer rate to something awful.

I just hope they give enough notice for members to get their points out of Velocity.

 

[jase05]

Earning QF status credits on QR flights to Europe still safe? Thinking of booking such for next September.

Absolutely safe.

 

[justinbrett]

Losing SQ benefits would have a decent impact on a lot of velocity members on top of the 'refresh' from last week. I know a lot of people who make redemptions or cash tickets to Asia on SQ largely due to lounge & priority benefits. I'm sure Velocity has some insight into this and I would be surprised if they weren't aware of the importance of keeping these benefits to maintain some level of member happiness.

My reading of the submission is that SQ isn't being removed as a partner or having loyalty benefits removed, just that Qatar will be the only airline headquartered in the ME and Europe which will offer loyalty benefits and codeshare. I think the use of headquartered is very deliberate here, if it was any airline that flew to Europe that is a different story.

I do think SQ redemptions with Velocity points will no longer be offered for flights anywhere West of India, everything will be shifted across to Qatar.

As others have raised VA's attempt as Abu Dhabi flights didn't end great, nor were QF's to Dubai a resounding success. Wet lease or not VA and Qatar are probably putting some of the above in to ensure that they are actually a success.

I think it will mirror the QF/EK partnership, which is restricted geographically to exclude the Americas and South Africa, for revenue and loyalty perks. However the entire network is available for points redemptions.

In VA/SQ’s case, the geography would be restricted to Asia.

That’s if SQ doesn’t end the deal out of spite. As I said before they don’t really need VA, they have no other partner that can fill the gap so any former VA customer will just book direct. Ask QR for advice on what to do when someone skips over you to sign up with a competitor

 

[SYD]

I do think SQ redemptions with Velocity points will no longer be offered for flights anywhere West of India, everything will be shifted across to Qatar.

It would be very unusual for a FF partner to be restricted to specific routes/regions.

More problematic will be the reduced SC earn on SQ, compounded with the changes to earning and retaining VA status post Oct 2025.

Earning QF status credits on QR flights to Europe still safe? Thinking of booking such for next September.

Yes.

If it works for you, QR ex-PER gives close to full QF SCs (120 SC in J PER-DOH) compared to East Coast (SYD/MEL/BNE-DOH 80 SCs in J) and ADL with 90 SC.

 

[elanshin]

Im just curious, would the ACCC and FIRB take into account these things when processing the application.

Having exclusivity effectively for the routes? I guess it can be argued other airlines can still fly into Australia even without a feeder network.

 

[serfty]

Losing SQ benefits would have a decent impact on a lot of velocity members on top of the 'refresh' from last week.

Other than not being able to codeshare VA*SQ to Europe as well, there are no indicated reduction of benefits for VA elites when travelling on SQ.

 

[elanshin]

Other than not being able to codeshare VA*SQ to Europe as well, there are no indicated reduction of benefits for VA elites when travelling on SQ.

I don't expect anything to come out of SQ side until things are finalised here and then they'd look to review the situation. Would make no sense until VA finalises something.

Whether anything changes would really be up to SQ and how they feel about all this. They could be perfectly fine with the position as well.

 

[justinbrett]

It would be very unusual for a FF partner to be restricted to specific routes/regions.

It already happens with VA/UA

VA doesn’t get access to any seats in/out of GUM, SPN or other minor Pacific islands - even when there are the lowest tier of reward seats available with UA.

And of course QF can’t access NZi

 

[HS-TQE]

I'd suspect if SQ is opposed to the deal yet doesn't want to take up a stake (due to their past three failed Australian investments) they would've filed a submission already and more.likely would've gave Jayne/Nick the heads up (although most staff would've been in the dark) before filing the submission

 

[SYD]

It already happens with VA/UA

VA doesn’t get access to any seats in/out of GUM, SPN or other minor Pacific islands - even when there are the lowest tier of reward seats available with UA.

There’s probably some underlying issue there and the old Continental airline routes.

And of course QF can’t access NZi

NZ isn’t a full QFF partner (must be a QF code to earn. No burn at all AFAIK).

 

[elanshin]

Earning QF status credits on QR flights to Europe still safe? Thinking of booking such for next September.

Flying on QR would be safe (assuming it was an earning class) flying on QR codeshare VA flight with a QR plane will be a no go.

 

[justinbrett]

There’s probably some underlying issue there and the old Continental airline routes.

NZ isn’t a full QFF partner (must be a QF code to earn. No burn at all AFAIK).

You can book NZd with QF CR.