Well, what a way to finish the week!
Virgin Australia’s quest to establish a deeper strategic relationship with Qatar Airways and challenge the dominance of Qantas’ tie-up with Emirates was given preliminary approval by the ACCC yesterday afternoon.
While the agreement is yet to receive the final green light, it is a major development for VA, which is still looking to step completely out of the shadow of the pandemic, when it was rescued by US private equity firm Bain Capital through a $3.5 billion sale.
The interim approval will enable Virgin Australia and Qatar Airways to commence marketing and selling 28 weekly scheduled return flights between Doha and Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, connecting into Middle Eastern carrier’s global network.
The extra flights are calculated to open up more than 100 new connecting itineraries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Australian travellers.
The wet lease services will begin in June 2025, with VA successfully expediting the ACCC decision to get things up and running sooner.
The good news for travellers and agents is that the ACCC has also guaranteed customers booked on the proposed new services will be protected in the event of approval falling at the final hurdle.
Affected customers will be given the option of a refund or re-accommodation on a suitable alternative flight at no additional charge and will not be out of pocket for any reasonably foreseeable costs, with VA and QR agreeing to take on the risk through a court-enforceable pledge to protect the rights of travellers.
The ACCC hinted at what those potential sticking points might be, if indeed the alliance did not receive final approval.
This appears to be the fact that VA will use Qatar Airways aircraft and crew to operate the new services through a wet lease agreement, as well as exclusivity arrangements.
That exclusivity has already seen VA’s long-time partner Etihad go its separate way, with the latter telling TB this month that while its alliance with the Aussie carrier had been fruitful, it is more than confident of remaining a major force in Australia without VA’s assistance.
Under the proposed arrangements, Velocity members will continue to earn and redeem Velocity points on Singapore Airlines’ operated services globally, including to and from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Virgin Australia’s arrangements with South African Airways and Virgin Atlantic will be unchanged.
Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia have sought authorisation for five years.
Another major development this week came from Qantas, which is pushing the virtues of its new NDC model, which it confirmed will go live on 01 July next year.
Among the benefits for agents will be the access to more fares and opportunities to earn through dynamic commissions, said Qantas.
The carrier said advisors will be able to access the carrier’s content in a number of different ways, including EDIFACT, standard NDC, and premium NDC, the latter of which being by invitation only.
Some of these options will be surcharge-free, while others will incur ticket surcharges.
Qantas CEO – International and Freight, Cam Wallace added it is important agents have a decent runway to adjust to the changes, which were developed via close consultation with GDS partners like Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport, and 10 other technology partners.
Wallace also pointed out that agents are still using booking systems that were built “before the internet even existed”, and that customers have told the carrier they want a more personalised, flexible and seamless booking experience, whether they book directly or indirectly through a travel agent.
Feedback from agents has been mixed, with smaller agency players perhaps worried that the companies with the larger sales volumes will be the winners when it comes to negotiating these dynamic commissions and deals.
To cruising now, and Hurtigruten announced it has a new owner after being acquired by a consortium of existing investors from TDR Capital.
Under new owners Arini Capital Management, AlbaCore Capital and Barings, the consortium said it is confident of taking a trusted and globally recognised brand to new heights with renewed investment.
The owners are also able to wipe away a large sum of debt to precipitate stronger growth prospects, backed up an improving booking pipeline for 2025.
Yesterday, we also learned that long-time cruise executive Sarina Bratton has finished up her tenure at Ponant.
Bratton had been in the position of Strategic Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer, and was instrumental in opening the French cruise brand’s local office in 2013.
And finally, a huge thank you to all of those people who came along to celebrate 2024 at our Bon Voyage event in Sydney. It was a pleasure to be in the room with so many amazing travel professionals and hear more about your business journeys and plans for the year ahead.
Like CVFR CEO Ram Chhabra said on stage as one of our key sponsors, hearing about the future challenges of the travel sector isn’t so bad when the issues are actually about travel, and not about border closures and vaccine mandates etc.
Hear, hear to that sentiment and a successful 2025 for us all.
