Aviation Qatar Airways gets nod to buy 25% of Virgin Australia By Pramod Kumar February 27, 2025, 10:20 AM Qatar Airways/X Qatar Airways' stake in Virgin Australia will challenge the dominance of Australia's national carrier Qantas The Australian government has cleared an offer by state-backed Qatar Airways to acquire a minority 25 percent stake in Virgin Australia from Bain Capital, a US private equity company, the companies said in a statement. The Gulf carrier made the offer to buy the stake in October, but the Australian transport minister, Catherine King, rejected the bid for additional flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, on the grounds that the “proposal was not in Australia’s interests”. Following the approval, the tie-up is likely to place downward pressure on airfares and challenge the dominance of national carrier Qantas which has a code-sharing agreement with Dubai’s Emirates Airline. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the deal is expected to boost competition in the aviation sector and follows extensive talks by the government with industry, unions and other stakeholders, local media reported. The Australian Treasurer or finance minister can cancel foreign investment if it is deemed a risk to national security. Virgin Australia will restart long-haul flights in June, flying from Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth to Doha, subject to Australia’s International Air Services Commission approval. Flights from Melbourne to Doha are scheduled to commence in December. Middle East airlines expected to ride out delivery delays Qatar Airways signs $97m deal to sponsor new rugby tournament Qatar Airways partners with Elon Musk’s Starlink The flights will use aircraft wet-leased from Qatar Airways. A wet-lease arrangement is when the lessor includes maintenance, insurance and at least one crew member with the aircraft they are providing. The lessee receives this bundle and pays the lessor by the number of hours or the number of flights that the aircraft is operated. The new services is expected to generate an estimated $3 billion in economic value over the next five years, the companies said. Bain Capital purchased Virgin Australia for A$3.5 billion ($2.2 billion) and brought it out of voluntary administration in November 2020. No financial details of the Qatar Airways offer were disclosed.
