Originally Posted by CurtainTwitcher
My (brief) scan of the decision summary AIR TRANSPORT LICENSING AUTHORITY decision suggests these are actually key criteria.
ATLA Decision Regarding Licence Application of Jetstar Hong Kong Airways Limited
Keep reading, page 132
"In Hong Kong, airlines designations are still made for airlines that satisfy the criteria of “incorporated and principal place of business” in Hong Kong. "
Jetstar Hong Kong was incorporated in Hong Kong with foreign shareholders, it meets the incorporation test. There is no test on who owns shares in that company (unlike Australia).
The failure was purely on PPOB which is not required in Australia. They scrambled to get a local investor in, and played corporate games with the share registry so that a minority shareholder would have majority control. Whoever advised them had lost the plot, or maybe they just did not want to play, there is no such local majority control requirement in Hong Kong.
The PPOB test does not fit with the Jetstar franchise model which is to centralize the back end business operations in Australia under Qantas control. Jetstar sucks the cash out of the franchises for the services they perform so they end up reporting losses, which Qantas then lends funds back to them.