Qantas Buys Stake in Pacific Airlines

Qantas buys stake in Pacific Airlines

HANOI, April 27 (Xinhua) — Australian airline Qantas signed an agreement with Vietnam’s State Capital Investment Corporation ( SCIC) to purchase a 30-percent stake in the country’s Pacific Airlines, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Friday.

Pacific Airlines chairman Pham Vu Hien said the 50-million U.S. dollar strategic partnership deal inked Thursday will help it access capital, management, personnel and technical expertise of Qantas, which has developed Jetstar as one of the most successful low-cost carriers in Asia.

Qantas chief financial officer Peter Gregg said the Qantas Group, the first foreign firm investing in Vietnam’s civil aviation industry, would work with Pacific Airlines and SCIC to develop a new business plan for the carrier, which currently is operating a fleet of four Boeing 737-400 aircraft on domestic routes in Vietnam, as well as international service between Vietnam and Thailand and China’s Taiwan. Pacific Airlines plans to charter four Boeing 737- 400 planes from now to the first quarter of 2008.

Gregg said Qantas had worked with Pacific Airlines to harmonize its operations with Jetstar. Jetstar, Qantas’ budget arm, launched its first flights between Sydney and Vietnam’s southern Ho Chi Minh City last November.

Established last August as the investment holding arm of the Vietnamese government, the SCIC now has around 500 equitized companies in its portfolio and is expected to facilitate strategic investment deals for some large corporations. the SCIC will continue to hold 62 percent of Pacific Airlines following the deal on Thursday.

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