Where's the fantasy? Air NZ had it happen and has benefitted hugely.
Buy a big block of shares at say $1.80, restore some faith and value in the brand and sell them off at say $2.50 This was in fact the strategy that Dixon etc were personally looking at recently. Specifically the pure asset value is more than the share price, thus it's a no-brainer.
Why invest in VA? They're not undervalued and don't comprise such a massive chunk of the aviation industry in Australia.
The theory over the last 20 years is that governments shouldn't delve into private industry as invariably they don't have the expertise etc. However could anybody have done a worse job than the self-proclaimed corporate wizards?
At privatization, QF had basically 747's, 767's and 737's, with a few other minor types. It was this sensible approach that allowed it to survive when AN couldn't. The corporate wizards had already gutted AN and run it so inefficiently that it was doomed.
Whilst government ownership and the two-airline domestic policy had its drawbacks (silly schedules, expensive airfares compared to now) to dismiss that scenario as yesterdays business strategy hasn't been massively successful. Yeah the public have cheaper prices but at what cost and how long is this sustainable? The main beneficiaries have been the corporate masters of the universe with their sickening bonuses and bloated egos.
So now these wizards have taken over QF (some of whom were also with AN) and what a godawful mess. A380's, 747's, A330's, 767's, 787's shortly, 737's etc. What an overcomplicated recipe for disaster. And the share price reflects their ineptitude.
Boot the lot out, get people running he airline for whom aviation is their first passion (not climbing any corporations' ladder), simplify the whole damn operation and stop farming everything off to foreign carriers and overseas bases.
Get back to basics, like ANZ has, and do it properly.