G''day Y''all

[desertfox]

Qantas casts an acquisitive eye
Qantas could be well positioned to acquire foreign airlines or stakes in other carriers, said CEO Geoff Dixon. Analysts say the Australian flag carrier could be targeting a 25% stake in alliance partner American Airlines. The Sydney Morning Herald (2/23)
Qantas has flagged that it could be on the takeover trail if the Iraqi war erupts and the conflict brings airlines to their knees.
Sydney Morning Herald 24/02/2003
This could get interesting....
Lufthansa has stated they will not provide any investment to UAL. I see alot of plus''s with AA/QF...alot of great folks down under...

 

[s80dude]

I think Qantas is a great airline. I flew them all over Oz during my one month of vacation down under and was quite impressed with the operation and their employees.

 

[Buck]

Dow Jones Business News
Australia's Qantas: Resumes Talks About Foreign Cap
Monday February 24, 10:12 pm ET


SYDNEY -(Dow Jones)- Qantas Airways Ltd. chief executive Geoff Dixon said Tuesday that airline executives are talking with the Australian government again about removing the 49% foreign investment cap on its share register.
Dixon said talks are ongoing with Canberra officials, with the company constantly saying its capital raising costs could be cut if the cap is removed.

The government last year rejected the proposal by Qantas on national interest grounds.

Dixon also told reporters that the Australian Airlines single class operation that flies in Asia will add flights to Bali from April. This announcement had been expected to be made Wednesday.

 

[AAquila]

SYDNEY, Australia -- Australian
Qantas shares were trading at A$3.49 on the Australian Stock Exchange on Thursday afternoon, a dip of A31c.

"We expect to improve our margins going forward as we continue to roll out our strategy to operate all-economic class aircraft on leisure routes that have little or no demand for business travel," chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said Thursday.

But Dixon said the threat of war in Iraq could affect the airline's earnings and the global situation had already started to put pressure on the solid recovery underway in international markets.

"Forward bookings for the next 16 weeks have slowed considerably in some markets, including Japan, Europe and the United Kingdom. All carriers appear to be affected," he said.

Qantas would be taking several steps to deal with tough market conditions, he said.

These include reductions in planned flying from March in both domestic and international operations.

The airline also will make staff take annual and long service leave between now and June 30, which will effectively cut staff by the equivalent of 1,500 full time employees over that period without having to fire any workers.
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Hey Bags;

Better get ready for bump-ins from the outback.

 

[AAquila]

Qantas hungry for foreign airline stakes

By Geoffrey Thomas
February 24 2003

Qantas has flagged that it could be on the takeover trail if the Iraqi war erupts and the conflict brings airlines to their knees.

Mr Dixon warned that the Iraqi conflict would lead to consolidation in the industry and that Qantas would be well placed to take advantage of it.

Airline analysts said yesterday Qantas could be targeting a 25 per cent stake in Oneworld alliance partner American Airlines.

"If there was a war in Iraq, I believe we will have failures of airlines and the inevitable consolidation that must be necessary in an industry that has such high people and capital costs will happen," Mr Dixon told Nine's Business Sunday program.

He said the aviation industry was in chaos, as hundreds of thousands of people were losing their jobs, planes were being stored, US airlines were insolvent and there was trouble in Europe. Qantas would be poised to take advantage of the situation after announcing a record interim profit of $352.5 million on Thursday.


"Perhaps we will be in the position to be able to look at whether there is potential opportunities out there - not people looking at us whether we are a potential opportunity," he said.

For some time Qantas has been eyeing equity buys in foreign airlines and could take as much as a 25 per cent equity in American Airlines under current US legislation.

In the past two years, American Airlines' stock has fallen from $US40 to just $US2.91 on Friday. American has 155 million shares on issue and a 25 per cent stake would cost Qantas $US113 million ($191.5 million) - a fraction of what American Airlines is worth in normal times.

However, any such investment would only be struck after American had renegotiated with its unions for substantial pay cuts more in line with industry standards for lower cost airlines such as Southwest of the US.

The West Australian

 

[AAquila]

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/articles/0,...,369685,00.html

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Something stinks in the outhouse, out back.

Karabu Carl and Kangaroo Rue are old friends, don't count them out just yet.