The Australian airline plans to buy shares of an airline in Vietnam in order to expand the operation scope of Qantas Airways in Asia/Pacific. The Australian airline has 50 aircrafts for the Asian market. It wants to expand its destinations in Asia as it believes the market will account for 15-20% of total turnover of the airline in the next 10 years.

Qantas Airways’ Finance Director Peter Gregg said that cooperation with an airline would allow it to raise the number of destinations and reach the growth rate of 6.5% per annum until 2009 in terms of passenger discharge. Prior to that, there were rumours that Qantas would buy shares of an Indonesian airline or ally itself with Malaysia's Air Asia. However, Qantas’ officials have recently stated that they are not pursuing such plans.

As for Pacific Airlines, after an unsuccessful commercial affair with Singapore's Temasek, Pacific Airlines now wants to seek another strategic partner. Chairman of the management board of Pacific Airlines Pham Vu Hien said late last week that the air carrier was negotiating with several foreign airlines. He said that Pacific Airlines was seeking a partner who could bring the three things Pacific Airlines needs most: capital, technology and experts.

(Source: VNE)