Tartare, In your post #951, I think you've made a valid observation, that with a growing class of people in Asian able to travel, there will be big increases in the numbers of travellers and that therefore getting into this market at an early stage is a good idea.
But at the same time I also think you've made one vital assumption that might not be correct. You are assuming that all business is a level playing field and that foreign investors moving into this new, increasing market will be afforded the same advantages as the Locals. I think this is where the whole idea falls down, many MANY people have talked of the problems with Western Businesses trying to push into the Orient, how they play a far meaner game than people expect and they already have the contacts and insider knowledge these Western Businesses need and go to great lengths to prevent them ever gaining this knowledge.
Sunfish seems to possess a good knowledge of how things work over there and will and HAS said many times that they will face big problems trying to move in on that Market. Mstr Caution made the obvious observation of their attempt to use Darwin as a launching pad and how that has failed. Surely the fact that Jet* HK has Aircraft sitting around doing nothing is another sign that things aren't going the way they had expected, I'm no grand Management Guru but it's been my experience that you don't have Aircraft sitting around just for the hell of it and if you do then something has gone wrong and it's going to be costly. Not to mention of RedQ which has seemed to go no where despite the bluster of Qantas Management talking it way up. I seem to also remember talk of a few of their Managers being jailed somewhere for some time, Vietnam or Singapore? Can't quite remember right now.It would seem that so far their ventures into Asian have proved to be far more difficult and costly than they are willing to acknowledge and despite any potential big windfalls they may gain eventually by being present when things really go off they have to last long enough to get there!!