Qatar Airways Plans To Buy a 25% Stake in Virgin Australia — What To Know

Updated: October 1, 2024, 6:59pm CDT

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Qatar Airways Intends To Buy a Minority Stake in Virgin Australia
What This Means for Travelers
Final Thoughts

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In an interesting piece of news, Qatar Airways plans to buy a minority stake in Virgin Australia. The latter has struggled to recover since COVID-19 axed many of its flight routes.

What’s most interesting about this investment is that Virgin Australia’s biggest competitor domestically is a Oneworld partner of Qatar Airways.

While the deal isn’t closed and is still subject to regulatory approval, there are numerous implications for travelers. Let’s unpack them.

Qatar Airways Intends To Buy a Minority Stake in Virgin Australia

Qatar Airways, one of the most highly regarded airlines in the world, is a member of the Oneworld alliance. Also a member of Oneworld? Qantas, a chief domestic competitor of Virgin Australia.

Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia have had a codeshare relationship since 2022, so they aren’t strangers. However, this new investment would take things further, providing increased access to passengers from both airlines, thanks to additional connection opportunities. Australian travelers would gain access to more than 100 destinations served by Qatar Airways.

The new agreement will also include a wet lease for Virgin Australia, providing wide-body jets in mid-2025 to help Virgin Australia resume long-haul flights.

Virgin Australia aircraft — Virgin Boeing 737s at Melbourne Airport. Image Credit: Daniel Ross.

Under the new proposal, Qatar Airways will buy a 25% minority stake in Virgin Australia, buying from Bain Capital for an undisclosed price. This is subject to regulatory approval before proceeding.

Bottom Line:

Qatar Airways wants to buy a minority, non-controlling stake in Virgin Australia, despite being an alliance partner with Qantas. The airlines believe this will help Virgin Australia get back on its feet and boost aviation in the region, as well as giving travelers more options.

What This Means for Travelers

The airlines believe this new partnership and Qatar Airways’ investment in Virgin Australia will help create jobs and support Australian aviation at large. It also could help spur competition in Australia’s domestic market. Virgin Australia’s CEO also believes it could bring an additional $2.06 million (USD) of benefits to the Australian economy over the next 5 years, thanks to increased visitor traffic.

But what would this investment mean for travelers? First, Australian travelers will gain access to 100 new destinations through seamless connections on Qatar Airways.

The airlines are also hinting at “increased earn and redemption opportunities for members of Velocity and Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club, and broader access to great value fares for leisure travellers, small and medium-sized enterprises, and corporate customers.” What will those earning and redemption opportunities look like? We’ll have to wait and see.

And as Virgin Australia is able to compete more with other airlines — domestically and within Oceania — it may lead to additional fare sales, which travelers should love.

Final Thoughts

It’s still subject to approval, but the airlines are on board with the plan for Qatar Airways to buy a 25% minority stake in Virgin Australia. Whether the projections turn into reality is anyone’s guess, but the next step is government approval. After that, we’ll see what benefits for frequent flyers look like as the partnership moves forward, assuming it does.