Can anyone out there confirm that in the last week, A320 and A321 parking lines have appeared on the tarmac at the old ansett terminal at Sydney airport ?
I think S.Q will have to eventually enter the australian market. The star alliance is unrepresented in the market here and the economies of scale that stem from this alliance should be enough incentive alone for them.
They had a very big role in the crew and staff awards for the failed tesna bid. These awards , according to the authors of " ansett - the collapse " were apparently looked at very carefully by a certain C.E.O of QF.
Let's face it , given the level of customer dissatisfaction and deteriorating service levels at Q.F , any cashed up competitor who were prepared to compete with Q.F in the business market would be likely to pull 10 to 15% market share off them overnight!
It is also interesting to note that Q.F has built up a very large casual and part time ( read disposable ) workforce. I reckon that they believe S.Q will eventually have a try.
It would be interesting to see how they would cope with this as they have never faced a seriously cashed up domestic competitor ever. Ansett was always cash strapped after the merger of Australian and Q.F and the subsequent public float.
I believe there is more blood to be shed in the aussie domestic market yet !