Tiger never had business class seats and a regional network that offered connectivity for business travelers. In all honesty, the elephant in the room is QFs huge and growing debt in a world where interest rates are about to go ballistic. The build up of fleet is an indication the other airlines know this and smell blood in the water. QF will post another billion dollar loss this year, who knows what the debt bill will be up to, $6-$7 $10 billion before this is all over. Very hard for them to compete with such huge encumbrance, add to that a squeezed employment market and as the opposing fleets build up QF will be forced to cede slot times for competitive purposes as the ACCC will not allow a monopolistic hold on slots. This is why QF is so keen on the 60% line in the sand, if they lose market share they lose the ability to require/demand that market share of slots into Melbourne and Sydney.
Joyce made a fatal mistake for QF when it claimed it required no bailout money back in 2020, a ploy to force Virgin into administration. His bully tactic has backfired with now his own entity indebted to the teeth with two strong competitors growing with private equity partners with deep pockets and cheap leases. No other airline would touch QF unless to buy out the corpse and PE would be brave to step up against Bain and PAG with already established markets. Good luck to QF, but I don't see things being so rosy in the next 5 years. The government will not bail out QF as it is, the International sector is probably the only part they may consider, the rest will be pickings for VA and Rex to select what they want from the ashes.
Last edited by 43Inches; 26th Feb 2022 at 21:24.