QANTAS says speculation it has joined forces with American Airlines and British Airways to bid for Japan Air Lines is untrue.
The rumours spread rapidly yesterday from Tokyo but were dismissed last night by Qantas head of government and corporate affairs David Epstein, The Australian reports.
"Obviously because we're close partners with both JAL and American Airlines and we're fellow members of the One World group," Mr Epstein said.
"We have keen interest in both the future of JAL and any discussions American Airlines may be having with JAL.
"But Qantas is not involved in any of the formal negotiations taking place between any parties nor are we engaged in any M&A (merger and acquisition) or consolidations discussions with any other airline."
American moved last weekend to head off a proposal by its US rival Delta, the world's largest passenger carrier, to inject up to ¥50 billion ($629 million) of equity into JAL on condition it switched to the SkyTeam alliance.
The Japanese flag-carrier, which secured a ¥100 million Government-guaranteed credit line in June, needs an estimated ¥250 million more by March 31 to meet debt obligations, restructure its fleet and cover the costs of a drastic downsizing. American has also offered an equity injection, but it was unclear yesterday whether Qantas and BA were also offering funds.
"We are considering various options but we can't specify anything further," a JAL spokeswoman said.
With the US and Japan this week committing to negotiating an "open skies" agreement, JAL's ultimate choice of alliance and code-sharing partners will have a major bearing on winners and losers from the deregulation of Asia's most lucrative air passenger market.
Read more on this story at The Australian.
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