Qantas & Virgin Australia look for new Asian partners: China Eastern for Qantas, Cathay for Virgin?

Qantas and China Eastern are nudging each other for a deeper partnership to cover Australia-China traffic flows. Feelings are warm on both sides; all that is missing is the time and resources to complete a deal. Qantas is busy with its Emirates partnership as well as continuing network improvements, including its loss-making international network, while China Eastern is a slower moving company and concentrating on its own rapid expansion. The two of course are also busy with their joint venture LCC, Jetstar Hong Kong.

Their thunder may be stolen by a more agile Virgin Australia, which has set as its next strategic development a partnership with another Asian carrier - and one most likely to be in North Asia to facilitate better connections around the region than Virgin can achieve with its Asian partner Singapore Airlines.

Cathay Pacific could be a strong partner for Virgin: besides network synergies, they both share a common competitor in Qantas. A stumbling block is that Cathay and Qantas are both members of oneworld, but Cathay is an ambivalent member, and either way global marketing alliances are losing muster as partnership dynamics revert to a bilateral focus.