News: AQZ Australia's ACCC Comments On Qantas-Alliance Aviation Deal, page-4

If this were any other airline, the ACCC would have scotched any possible takeover on anti competition grounds.

However, the ACCC has a perverse view of ex Government entities. They seem to get very favourable treatment. Most likely as the ACCC is a division of Government and the Government of the day wants all privatised entities to be seen to be doing well, having been the seller.

The recent TPG and Vodafone merger was fought against tooth and nail by the ACCC. It was bizarre trying to stop no.3 and no. 4 combine when the no.1 in the market is massively bigger than 2, 3 and 4. The time that the ACCC delayed the merger enabled Telstra to get a healthy head start on 5G deployment.

In the case of Qantas, allowing the takeover of Impulse was a dreadful lack of probity by the ACCC. Did the takeover of Impulse reduce competition in the Australian aviation market? Too right it did. And they are likely to do it again with the AQZ takeover. The continuous delays indicate that the ACCC is seriously looking at allowing the takeover. It should have been rejected promptly. The market believes so, having marked down the AQZ share price way below the QAN offer price. However, the ACCC is keeping the deal alive.

I still find it hard to believe that the founders of AQZ could put so much effort in to building Alliance in to what it is today then suddenly have become so accepting of the idea of having the company disappear in to the ether as a segment of Qantas. Why?