Qatar Airways to invest in Virgin Australia
October 6, 2024
On 1 October 2025, Virgin Australia and the Qatar Airways Group announced that Qatar Airways would acquire a 25% minority stake in Virgin Australia from US private equity firm Bain Capital.
Interestingly, before Virgin Australia went into administration in April 2020, the airline had been part-owned by another major Middle Eastern airline, with Etihad holding a 21% share.
Qatar Airways is ranked as the world’s best airline by Skytrax, the independent air transport rating organisation. Virgin Australia and Qatar already have a strong relationship as “codeshare partners” – an arrangement established in 2022. Under their codesharing agreement, both airlines will sell seats on each other’s flights.
The Qatar Airways website says that: “Our strategic partnership with Virgin Australia provides an unparalleled experience when travelling between Australia and Qatar Airways’ global network. Enjoy connectivity from over 30 cities in Australia to America, Africa, the Middle East and Doha in a single booking. The partnership extends to Privilege Club and Velocity members, who can enjoy reciprocal loyalty benefits depending on status tier, such as complimentary lounge access, priority check-in, priority boarding and priority baggage delivery.”
Qatar Airways’ previous attempts to expand its operations in Australia have experienced some pushback. Last year, Transport Minister Catherine King blocked a request to double the number of flights that Qatar Airways was allowed to fly into major Australian airports.
Today, Virgin Australia has little long-range capability, operating nine Boeing 737-700s, 75 737-800s, and eight 737-8s. Its Virgin Australia Regional Airlines subsidiary has seven A320s and three Fokker 100s.
The proposed arrangement will allow Virgin Australia to offer flights to Doha from Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, using use wet-leased widebody aircraft from Qatar Airways. By wet-leasing wide-body aircraft to Virgin Australia to operate its “own” long-haul routes to Doha, Qatar Airways could bypass the need to gain government approval for the additional flights.
Virgin Australia has operated widebodies in the past, having flown eight Airbus A330-200s and five Boeing B777-300ERs on long-haul flights until they were withdrawn from use during the pandemic. The arrangement with Qatar Airways could provide useful up to date experience, should Virgin Australia return to widebody operations in the future.
Qatar Airways acquisition of a stake in Virgin Australia may ruffle feathers within the Oneworld Alliance, which includes Qatar Airways and Virgin Australia’s main rival – Qantas, who are teamed with Emirates!
The proposed deal will be subject to regulatory approval, with Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) both looking into the arrangement.
