BadHat,
Unsure if you wrote that piece or is copied but it raises a few simple questions.
1. Does Qantas have cabotage rights through any Gulf countries, or any likelihood of getting them.
2. What is the real traffic Gulf - Australia, rather than Europe - Australia
3. Qantas already splits its Europe traffic via Sing, Bangkok and HK - does it make commercial sense to split it further.
Simple dilemma for an end of line carrier.
Istanbul may have traffic rights, but no oneworld connections.
For oneworld connections, QF would be better fly to Amman where Royal Jordanian has a great hub