PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Project Suzie
Thread: Project Suzie
View Single Post
Old 15th Jun 2011, 02:12
  #4 (permalink)  
speeeedy
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 182
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Project Dragon is the new project Suzie.

This project has been an evolving strategy, whilst it started as a simple project to attempt to capitalise the growth in Asia with a view to integrating and expanding the links between J*, J* Asia and Qantas.

LG took the bit between the teeth and has convinced AJ and presumably the board that it should be taken much, much further and that is what the "review of international" is. It is just an expansion of the terms of reference of the original project Dragon.

God knows what it has become now, but I suspect that it is a way of privatising Qantas by stealth. That is, setup a foreign airline with the Qantas brand attached (in some way to avoid the Qantas Sale Act problems) but Qantas Airways Ltd (i.e the public company) would have less than a majority as required by most foreign governments and the rest would be a private asian company and the investors in that company will be impossible to trace. But we all know who they will be.

Presto, you now have a private equity investment which owns more than 50% of what will eventually be the largest part of the QF international network.

Whilst I think that is the plan, I don't think it will work. A foreign QF has no "unique" selling point, it loses any advantage in the Australian market due to being seen as 'foreign' and will also be seen in Asia as being 'foreign' also. A lose - lose situation.
speeeedy is offline