I think you people are missing the point. The Virgin ******* branding people don't want a product that is visually very different to QANTAS. It's harder to raise brand awareness for something that's 'different'. They want to portray a product that is similar but subtly different. Thus people know what to expect, which is comforting.
I would bet London to a brick that Virgin ********* will eventually, down the track, be advertising that they are more Australian than the competition (more Australian than the spirit of Australia) through spruiking on-shoring.
Forget the idea of Jet* being re-branded as the new QANTAS. My bet is that JB is manoeuvring V to become the new Q. They may be poles apart for us in the know, but to Berty businessman the product will be very similar, and besides he remembers reading something about V being more Australian than the competition through on-shoring, which everyone knows also makes them safer than the competition (which is also comforting).