While the fight over Australia's international airline market has been capturing headlines lately, major takeover moves by Virgin Australia are set to turn up the heat in an increasingly fierce competition on the domestic front.Virgin expects that buying a controlling stake in Tiger Airways Australia and acquiring Skywest Airlines will expand its battle with larger rival Qantas Airways into new parts of the domestic market. Qantas has recently been focused on strengthening its ailing international operation through a tie-up with Emirates, but the latest Virgin forays emphasize that Qantas also faces growing threats on its doorstep. Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti says the Tiger deal represents a "reentry" into the low-cost carrier market that Virgin has been deliberately departing for the past 4-5 years, and will allow it to take aim at Qantas subsidiary Jetstar. The proposed Skywest acquisition would give Virgin access to the lucrative "fly-in, fly-out" charter market in Australia's mining sector, and will also help it compete against the QantasLink regional network.
展开▼
