Im not sure about this caper.
Setting up a bunch of A320's (initially) to cater to a growing middle class in Asia with a "premium" product flying into/out of Singapore just doesnt add up.
The market out of SIN already has a world beating premium airline of its own, SIA which the Singaporeans are fiercely proud of. Why on earth would this market suddenly be tempted away from SIA, CX, NH, JL, MH, etc etc with all the points and status they may already have accumulated over years of loyal patronage, to suddenly go en-masse to "Qantas Asia".
What they will most likely aim for is to eventually have 787's that will take all the pax inbound from Australia that have arrived into SIN on QF and send them off to points in Europe or wherever, with crew based completely in SIN. Basically, any service into/out of SIN on the 787 will NOT be crewed by Australians (on Australian terms and conditions)
Apparently they cannot use the Qantas name in this venture so who knows
what they plan to do about that.
And the obvious trade off in all of this will be giving SQ Trans Pacific rights they have long been after....a real smart move (not!)
Or, this could just be a smokescreen. A tactic to use in the middle of contentious EBA negotiations.
Who knows!!
One things for sure, Ill give them points for creativity.