Qatar Airways has agreed a deal to buy a stake in Virgin Australia, the country’s second-largest carrier, the latest in a number of international acquisitions by the Gulf airline. The deal will see Qatar Airways buy a 25% equity stake in Virgin Australia from private equity group Bain Capital, which bought the carrier originally set up by Sir Richard Branson out of administration during the pandemic. The two airlines said in a statement that the deal was part of a wider plan to eventually publicly list Virgin Australia, where Qatar Airways expects to be a cornerstone investor. Qatar Airways is wholly owned by the Qatari government, and the deal will be subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board. Virgin Australia will return to long-haul flying as part of the agreement, and will feed passengers into Qatar’s hub in Doha on flights from Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney on leased aircraft from 2025. The deal will increase Virgin Australia’s competition with national airline Qantas, and comes after Qatar Airways had pushed the Australian government for more flying rights to increase the number of routes it can operate into the country. “We believe competition in aviation is a good thing and it helps raise the bar, ultimately benefiting customers,” said Qatar Airways CE Badr Mohammed Al-Meer. Virgin Australia Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said she did not take regulatory approval “for granted”, and would work to outline the benefits for Australia’s economy and aviation sector. “This partnership brings the missing piece to Virgin Australia’s longer-term strategy and is a huge vote of confidence in Australian aviation,” she said. “Importantly, it will further strengthen Virgin Australia’s ability to compete over the long term.” Virgin Australia was one of the most high-profile corporate collapses triggered by the pandemic when it entered administration in April 2020, after Canberra and shareholders declined to bail out the carrier.<br/>
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Japan Airlines has begun recruiting dozens of flight attendants in the Philippines with the help of a local staffing agency, rebooting a program that was postponed during the coronavirus pandemic as it responds to growing demand for travel to Japan. Through JAL's partnership with TDG Human Resource Management, a group of new flight attendants hired in the country is scheduled to join the company in January 2025. It will continue to recruit in the Philippines, where English is widely spoken, every year. TDG will cooperate in the selection process and provide Japanese language education and customer service training. After receiving final training in Japan, the flight attendants will work on JAL's routes between Manila and Tokyo, as well as on other international routes. JAL partnered with TDG in 2019 to recruit 40 flight attendants, who were scheduled to begin their final training in Japan in 2020, but plans were postponed due to the pandemic. JAL has previously recruited flight attendants in Bangkok, Singapore and Taipei.<br/>
Qantas will for the first time operate its Airbus A380s to Africa, as part of a capacity up-gauge that also sees the airline enter into a codeshare agreement with South African operator Airlink. Effective immediately, Qantas will deploy the A380 between Sydney and Johannesburg six times a week. The superjumbo replaces Boeing 787-9s on the route, which equates to a near-doubling of capacity. The announcement makes Johannesburg the fourth city in Qantas’ network to see A380 service. The Oneworld carrier flies the double-deck type to London, Singapore and Los Angeles. Qantas operates eight A380s, with two more aircraft in long-term storage set to return to service within the next 18 months. The A380s seat 485 passengers across four classes: first, business, premium economy and economy. Qantas International chief Cam Wallace says: “We are seeing strong demand for our Johannesburg services and, by upgrading to the [A380s], we will nearly double capacity during peak periods, adding over 130,000 seats per year between the continents.” The airline will also resume operations between Perth and Johannesburg from mid-2025 subject to approvals. The route is currently operated by South African Airways. Qantas has also signed Johannesburg-based Airlink as its newest codeshare partner, adding its code to the latter’s domestic network from Johannesburg to nine South African cities, including Durban and Cape Town. It is working to expand the codeshare network to other African countries “over the coming months”.<br/>