Mohikan:
At the end of the day Singapore is hub to and from Australia. If Qantas international is 'based' there, but doing something like its existing flying program then in reality it will not be any further in the asian market then as it is now.
You demonstrate perfectly the lack of comprehension of Asia that I am talking about.
Do you honestly believe a Qantas Asian based business will be
allowed to make a return to its Australian shareholders? Let alone a return that is "acceptable" to the Boards notional Australian institutional investors, which is probably double or triple what an Asian carrier would consider "acceptable"?
If so, I have a bridge to sell you.
I use the phrase "a return to its Australian shareholders" because those are the operative words that the Board should be considering right now, and if they have not done the necessary due diligence to trace exactly how that will occur then they are already in trouble.
Firstly there is the little matter of earning a profit under the applicable Asian accounting standards.
Then there is the question of taxes in that Asian domicile.
Then there is the question of in what circumstances your partnership agreement allows for the declaration of a shareholders dividend as opposed to retaining the earnings in the business.
Then there is the tax treatment of dividends.
Then there is the little matter of foreign exchange rules and repatriation of funds.
....And you think all that works just like in Australia? Sovereign risk and commercial risk are not trivial issues in Asia, as Qantas and Rio Tinto should already know to their cost.