Originally Posted by
Skinny Dog
SIA shooting off at the mouth, and bleating again. They will be desperate to get in before the new Virgin airline gets a chance to become established on the Pacific route.
SIA already have a disproportionately large slice of Australian international air travel for very little in return. As I see the takeover of Qantas, it basically will remain Australian controlled but may now become a real threat to the likes of SIA as it will have access to capital to grow the airline
Bloomberg:
The carrier's request to fly between Australia and the U.S., the so-called Trans-Pacific route, has been repeatedly rejected by Australia in a bid to shield Qantas, Australia's largest airline.
``There are no grounds whatsoever to maintain the protection of Qantas on the Pacific route,'' said Stephen Forshaw, a spokesman for Singapore Air. ``Today's decision by Qantas to accept the transfer of ownership to a private consortium removes any remote possibility that protection of Qantas had some 'national interest' attached to it.''
Totally agree. Why does SIA, and Singapore Inc., believe that it has an unfettered right to express very strong views on Australian Govt policy on an air route between Australia and the USA? They are no more than leeches and should put its own house in order before trying to fix someone else's. For example, why are the LCCs not permitted to fly the route between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur - a perfect monopoly shared by the national carriers of Malaysia and Singapore? If these ba$tard$ really believe in open and free competition, they'd let anyone operate this literal goldmine on the back doorstep instead of keeping it to themselves. A round-trip in Y class is around $400: a comparison of Qantas fares for a round trip between Sydney and Melbourne (almost twice the distance) makes Qantas look like a LCC with SYD/MEL on Qantas makes