I thought the strategy was obvious.
1. Use Jetstar to stop Virgin Blue gaining market share. You need the facade of Jetstar as an independent operator for Qantas to do this without getting nailed by the ACCC for predatory pricing. The reality is that Jetstar is subsidised under the table by dodgy cost allocation methods. However the ACCC has no forensic avaition accounting skills so it will never be able to prove it.
2. Use Jetstar to reduce Qantas labor costs by carefully segregating Jetstar employees and Qantas employees. The Jetstar employees are paid less because it is a new company without the buildup of terms and conditions the mainline has, so they can offer the bare minimum. Thus the labor costs of Qantas as a group are reduced as a proportion of sales.
Carefully build up Jetstar at the main lines expense. At some point in time, emasculate and kill whats left of the mainline and rebadge Jetstar as Qantas. Its the management version of a cuckoo strategy. Qantas is feeding soimething that will one day displace it.
Great strategy, I haven't yet worked out what the Achilles heel is.