Qatar Airways will receive a 25% stake in Virgin Australia marking a significant moment in the developing landscape of global aviation. This strategic investment will help the airline to boost its influence in the Australian market while it will increase its competition against other airlines such as Qantas. 

More about the expansion

Qatar Airways has an important presence in the aviation market with flights to  Sydney Kingsford Smith, Melbourne Tullamarine, Brisbane International, Perth International, and Adelaide International. The current bilateral air services agreement restricts the airline to 28 weekly flights across the first four airports. The previous year, the Australian government rejected Qatar Airways’ request to raise the flight limit. Although the government did not clearly explain the reasons, Qantas opposed the request. Now, Virgin Australia which faced various financial challenges plans to wet-lease aircraft from Qatar Airways and launch its services to Doha efficiently avoiding the authorities’ decision. More particularly, Qatar Airways has acquired stakes in many airlines recently including a 25% minority share in Airlink and is finalising a 49% shareholding in RwandAir. Lastly, it has stakes in Cathay Pacific and LATAM Airlines Group. These investments underline the carrier’s vision to expand in key markets.

Regarding the connection of the two airlines, Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said:

“Qatar Airways has been a valued codeshare partner of Virgin Australia since 2022. This investment will deepen an already strong partnership by bringing critical scale and the best industry expertise to support our long-term competitiveness and growth.”

Qatar Airways’ growing trend

It is also worth mentioning that simultaneously Qatar Airways is investing in luxury offerings with the launch of all new new first class suites which will feel like flying in a private jet. These luxurious spaces will be available on Qatar’s Boeing 777-9 aircraft. These planes will also feature the Qsuite Next Gen business class, the first-class suites on Qatar’s 777X offering an outstanding experience. This growth will benefit Virgin Australia in having an alliance with such a competitive airline. However, the investment is pending approval by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board. Qatar Airways Group CEO Badr Mohammed Al-Meer added:

“The alignment of our two airlines is significant [and] the relationships are deep. We believe competition in aviation is a good thing and it helps raise the bar, ultimately benefitting consumers.”

As Qatar Airlines strengthens its position with bold alliances and luxurious offers the question that occurs is the following: Will this growing strength establish Qatar Airways as the leader in the aviation market?