Australian flag carrier Qantas is considering teaming up with Malaysia's AirAsia to form a Singapore-based, low-cost airline servicing the booming Southeast Asian market, it was reported here yesterday.
News Ltd and Fairfax newspapers reported Qantas Airways Ltd was considering the move as a back-up if regulators blocked a proposed tie-up with Air New Zealand.
The venture would challenge archrival Singapore Airlines on its home turf.
Qantas already had a license to operate a discount airline from Singapore that was granted more than 10 years ago after negotiations on access to Australian airports.
Melbourne's Herald-Sun said Qantas had already completed a feasibility study on running a low-cost airline from the Asian city-state while the Sydney Morning Herald reported Irish aviation consultant Conor McCarthy was brokering a deal between Qantas and AirAsia.
The reports said it was not clear whether Qantas would buy a stake in AirAsia, which is expected to hold a public float later this year, or the airlines would form a joint venture for the Singapore project.
"It would certainly be a positive move for Qantas," Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation managing director Peter Harbison said. "There's massive potential in that market."
Harbison said AirAsia appeared to favor the joint-venture model when doing business with other airlines.
"It wouldn't surprise me if they went down that track, it would help entrench AirAsia positively in the market," he said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from