Qantas Airways Ltd’s plans to move into Asia with a new superior brand may be postponed until 2013, as the carrier remains in talks with prospective partners in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, according to The Australian Financial Review.

According to The Australian Financial Review, while a decision on where the new airline will be established is expected before the end of the year, it may take an additional 12 months for the venture to receive all of the approvals necessary to begin operating.

I think Qantas needs to be careful to not push this situation too far. After the uproar that there has been from the loss of jobs and people’s fear of tainting an iconic Australian brand, they need to be careful that they don’t lose people’s faith in them further with ambiguous plans.

People are resistant to change as it is, they like to be reassured and so with the changes taking place at Qantas people have been opinionated, frantic and defensive from the beginning. One of the things that can help in a situation of huge change is to at least have some certainty of the new direction they are heading into.

However, this is not the case and as well as Investors not being too happy about this delay, an even bigger stakeholder is Qantas customers and the Australian public.
It would be a devastating shame if the country in which Qantas was established and is an icon of, boycotted the brand.

For more information on this, please visit: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Qantas-Asian-plans-could-be-delayed-report-pd20110912-LLSTN?OpenDocument&src=hp15