To those who doubt that VA's financial problems were the catalyst for this, remember that it reported a 100 Mill loss this year and is currently engaged in a turf and capacity war with a much larger rival. The cash injection from Etihad is also intended to weaken Qantas, with an eye to taking advantage lucrative routes outbound from Australia.
The realilty is Cappy that AJ though he was the smartest guy in the room but he wasn't.
I'm tipping he thought he had the fare war covered due to his large cash balance, knowing that Borghetti didn't have anywhere near the cash reserves he did. It would appear that he assumed Borghetti was stupid enough to get into a gunfight with a knife. I would bet London to a brick that Borghetti had assurances of Capital support from EY SQ and NZ long before he embarked on the capacity war with Qantas.
Joyce took it hook line and sinker. Now he is bleating that VA are cheats. Borghetti's not a cheat, he's just one step ahead of Joyce, which is understandable given that JB knows just about everything there is to know about Qantas and Joyce thinks he knows just about everything about everything. And whatever JB doesn't know, you can guarantee he's got people on the inside who are willing to sell out the little irish git.
When Joyce says he's playing with both hands tied behind his back he's absolutely correct, but it has nothing to do with the QSA or foreign governments and everything to do with the best CEO qantas never had.