I think some of these recent "positive" announcements, point to Qantas shoring up its position Internationally,on routes were there is no competition from LCCs, eg Air Asia X.
Air Asia X tried the ultra long haul for a while KL to London, admittedly wrong aircraft, but they got badly burnt, and now seem to have gone back to the 7-10 hr long haul flights around the asia pacific.
Qantas International is really going to struggle on their remaining Asia Pacific routes up against Air Asia X from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, Scoot and now Cebu Pacific.
So perhaps the days of Qantas flights to Manila,Jakarta etc may be numbered, and of course we know who will get those routes!