Qantas frustrated in search for Asian alliance partner:
After a torrid year, Alan Joyce can finally take a break on the Gold Coast with family from Ireland. But amid trips to amusement parks, the Qantas chief executive will know that in the volatile world of aviation, such downtime is usually the calm before another storm. Following the competition regulator’s nod of approval to Qantas’s alliance with Emirates, the 46-year-old Irishman will have to oversee a complex shift of his airline’s hub in Singapore to Dubai, and an alignment of systems and products with its new Middle Eastern bedfellow. With the Emirates deal almost in the bag, attention is set to turn quickly to Qantas’s plans for Asia. The region has not been a happy hunting ground for the Flying Kangaroo in recent years. Remember Qantas’s ambitious plans for RedQ, the start-up premium airline to be based in Singapore and later Kuala Lumpur? Those plans have been shelved indefinitely. But the pressing issue remains finding a suitable dance partner in Asia, which is vital...