Originally Posted by
Snakecharma
The ownership structure of the international airline is different to that of the domestic airline.
Domestic airlines are allowed to be 100% foreign owned, whereas Australian designated international carriers must be 51% Australian owned.
The exception to all of this is Qantas by virtue of the Qantas sale act - how exactly it differs I couldn't tell you as I have not bothered to look other than I remember the discussion when VA split itself up into different entities in order to facilitate the differing ownership structures.
The Qantas Sale Act requires a number of things to ensure the long-term viability of Qantas v.v. the national interest and to meet the obligations of International Air Services as per the Air Navigation Regulations.
The carrier must be 51% Australian owned, it must maintain it's principal business headquarters and operational base in Australia, the Chairman must be an Australian Citizen as must the CEO (not sure about the last one but I think the CEO does have that requirement), the trading name used for "... international passenger services offered by the Company..." must include the expression 'QANTAS'. Foreign ownership is thus capped at 49% and originally any airline or other consortia holding an interest was limited to 35% with any single airline limited to 25% but these last two have been removed and there is just the 49% foreign cap now. The Board is required to review the register monthly and any shares in excess of the 49% cap are to be stripped of voting rights which then vest in the Chairman and the Board while those shares are compulsorily acquired or subject to forced divestment to ensure the 49% cap is maintained. It is arguable that the old 25/35 limit is not required now as many investment banks and other institutions like the Commonwealth Bank are significant shareholders so the likelihood would seem slim that an airline would be able to get more than 20%.
The Commonwealth of Australia retains one single share in Qantas Airways Limited called the 'Golden Share' which provides special rights and privileges to the Commonwealth to veto any decision of the Board or Management which is not in the national interest. Costello chose not to exercise it though when APA were looking to aggressively acquire Qantas so it would seem to depend on the will of the Minister at the time.