dkit,The 1,000 cuts will be voluntary.There are plenty of old...

dkit,

The 1,000 cuts will be voluntary.
There are plenty of old cabin crews and pilots who will be happy to take it.

The main reason other airlines are happy to fly unprofitable routes because the majority of them are government owned and have endless cash backing.
These airlines goals are not profitability, but they are aimed at attracting as much economic activity to their own country as possible (Etihad, Emirates etc.).

Bums on seats are fine to Asia (Hong Kong and Bangkok) but Qantas unload a lot of pax there and are prohibited from picking up any pax from those cities and flying them on to Europe. The Asia leg is profitable, the Europe leg isn't.

The new Asian premium airline using A320's narrowbody aircraft will be a big challenge, I agree.
You will be up against Singapore, Cathay etc. flying widebody A330's and B777's on the same ~2 hour routes.
I see it as aimed at high end Qantas Frequesnt Flyers who do business in Asia because that's what they want, they want same day intra Asia connections. I think it's worth a shot.