January 23, 2007 - 3:39PM
Qantas says it is close to making a substantial investment in an unspecified Asian carrier.
"We are very close to announcing a substantial investment in the region," Qantas chief financial officer Peter Gregg said at an aviation conference in Singapore today.
"We are in talks with a carrier and there will be an announcement in the next few weeks.
"We don't intend to license our brand, we intend to take ownership," he added, without naming the target carrier.
Gregg said Qantas would not take a majority stake in the carrier because of regional laws, and said the deal would be completed by the first half of 2007.
"It's not a majority stake due to ownership restrictions.
"It's going to be an investment in the two-digit millions of US dollars."
AGENCIES
Gold Airways????
(Oh well...this'll get deleted now...)