Australia gives interim approval for Virgin-Qatar Airways alliance
Recasts with approval for the stake purchase and adds details throughout
Nov 29 (Reuters) -Australia's competition watchdog said on Friday it had given Qatar Airways interim approval to take a 25% stake in Virgin Australia IPO-VIR.AX and for the duo to start selling return flights between the countries starting in June of next year.
The tie-up will give Qatar, which plans to buy the stake from U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital, a backdoor channel to increase flights into Australia after being denied by the Albanese government last year. The government still needs to sign off on the latest proposal.
Qantas Airways QAN.AX had been fighting to keep Qatar away from Australia and had gotten assistance from a Labor government. The denial last year raised questions about the government's relationship with Qantas, which has a partnership with Dubai-based Emirates, a rival of Qatar Airways.
Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia can start marketing and selling 28 weekly scheduled return flights between Doha and Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, in June, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in a statement.
Flights from Perth are scheduled to start in November.
The ACCC's interim authorisation ensures that customers who have pre-booked these flights would be protected, even if the final regulatory approval is not granted.
Virgin Australia will use QatarAirways' craft and crew to operate the service under a wet-lease arrangement.
Virgin Australia, Qantas and Qatar Airways did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.
Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao and Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
