Maybe JB is being a scape goat and the Air NZ sell down a product of thier own doing?
The direction Virgin has taken under JB strikes me as that of a house renovation (which was needed) but along the way the inevitable cost over-runs occur and its hand it hat to the bank again and again (NZ,EY,SQ).
The house will most likley get finished but one of the bankers with the smallest pockets (NZ) has to bail out as they are in the process of getting hit hard on thier once gold mine regional routes. To make matters worse for NZ, they are about to loose thier North American grip and competition seems to be coming into the south pacific routes.
Maybe its Air NZ running scared rather than JB having failed?
If so would the irony be thats its the QF group (with AA) doing the damage? Could the Irishman be a genius afterall? Do I need to reassess what im smoking? Who knows.