WHAT IF............

[Mobi LAME]

Seeing how The Borg is starting to reposition VB more upmarket, what would happen if SQ bought into VB in a big way so they could take on the Q in a big way, abandoned some of the 'thongs and sarongs' routes whilst at the same time expanding Tiger to take on JQ. Now that would be interesting!

[PPRuNeUser0161]

ML
YES, YES YES, maybe!!. That could be it. Certainly VB cannot possibly hope to survive going it alone against the mighty QF/JQ monster. They will get run out of town with QF using JQ to cross subsidise mainline to attack VB. There is something else brewing, make no mistake, and if this scenario were to play out QF should watch its back!
SN

[VBPCGUY]

Makes alot of sense, Tiger look after the lesuire VB/SQ the mainline/corporate, because that was the one thing he had me baffled about the other day, if your going to go to a business seeking airline are you going to re configure your entire fleet to suit that or leave some of the B738's in 180 config to maximise your lesuire routes?? OOL/CNS/MCY etc??

[tail wheel]

What if the Foreign Investment & Review Board (FIRB) and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) disallowed any SQ investment in VB - which is very highly probable?

[ampclamp]

why should the firb disallow that ?
I believe the qantas sale act now allows 49% of qantas to be foreign owned.
Surely sq could get into vb ?
Maybe not majority but a substantial holding surely.Minimum 19%, seat or 2 on the board.
ACCC , toothless tiger.
2 strong airlines, more competition on biz routes.One could well argue sq coming into vb would be pro competiton.
It maybe politically sensitive but anti competitive or against the national interest, I cant see the argument.

[tail wheel]

Yes, I should have been clearer in stating that SQ would probably be denied any significant equity holding in VB or capacity to influence VB Board policy.

And the ACCC is not as toothless as you may think. They blocked the Qantas - Air New Zealand proposed arrangements.

I believe the qantas sale act now allows 49% of qantas to be foreign owned.

Yes, in the misguided opinion that if it has 51% Australian owned equity it will be Australian owned and controlled. However, if one foreign investor held 49%, that investor would in effect, control the airline.

[PPRuNeUser0161]

TW
Its a scenario that could only be resolved by an application to FIRB. However I think that FIRB would be hard pressed to justify stopping any equity buyout of VB by SQ given that the resultant structure would be no different to the QF/J* setup which is their main competition. The ANZ thing was completely different. It would have resulted with one airline having a major advantage strategically and ANZ is not the most popular airline in OZ given the Ansett affair. In the end if my memory serves me right that deal was stopped by the then tresurer????

Anyhow this is all a big pie in the sky at the mo, unless the MD's of SQ and VB get their ideas from prune we'll just have to wait until one of them thinks of it!
SN

[ampclamp]

Hi tail wheel yes fair comments and thank you for the reply.
they did stop the nz qf deal.That was a no brainer as it would result in almost zero competition.
Having sq into vb may lift the standard offered and maybe just maybe halt or slow the self destruct race to the bottom mentality of airlines these days. its just talk atm as the soup nazi says.

------------------------------------
soup nazi, the treasurer peter costello was in favour of an ansett /sq tie up but was kiboshed by howard and the cabinet of the day.Costello was flying around in fog unable to make that fateful cabinet meeting...(on good authority:cool: )
mr dixon was very well connected in cbr and had convinced many down there that allowing sq into ansett would kill the red rat. Optus had just been taken over by singtel (temasek) and they didnt want it to look like the singaporeans were buying "too many" aussie companies.
Politics is wonderful....not.

anyway back to the rumour mill...

[MrApproach]

Is it possible that Branson's ambition has out grown any tie up with SQ short of owning it and you can be sure that Singapore Incorporated (they don't need a FIRB) won't let that happen.

With Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America and Virgin Australia he is very close to have a global airline of his own.

[43Inches]

Is it possible that Branson's ambition has out grown any tie up with SQ short of owning it and you can be sure that Singapore Incorporated (they don't need a FIRB) won't let that happen.

With Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America and Virgin Australia he is very close to have a global airline of his own.
Virgin Atlantic is majority owned by Singapore. I think SQ was interested in VB a few years ago but the Virgin group refused to give up their 25% veto share. SQ would have had to manage the airline with one hand tied behind their back, so along came Tiger Aus.