Airline Alliances Quotes

The reality is the three gulf carriers - Emirates, Qatar and Etihad - are forces with which to be reckoned. Strategic investments by co-operative governments have given them large fleets and huge airports. They have created a flourishing environment while established carriers languish.

The fact is Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Singapore, Garuda, all of the three Chinese airlines, Air New Zealand - the fact is that international aviation relies very much upon agreements between nation-states, and it is not an area in which you have free market operations.

International carriers need to be given greater role in our skies on all routes like several other large countries to make our aviation industry more efficient and competitive and prevent arbitrary pricing by monopolies.

If we want to preserve Heathrow's hub status, we need to stop clogging it up with point-to-point flights to places such as Cyprus and Greece, which between them account for 87 weekly flights, and contribute nothing to overall connectivity.

The Open Skies issue is something that's ongoing and we understand that there are issues in Australia that need to be sorted out. It's something that I think over time there's an opportunity for us and we'll work on that in a progressive way.

Airlines are very competitive.

The airline business is the biggest team sport in the world. When you're all consumed with fighting among yourselves, your opponents can run over you every day.

The effect of the foreign direct investment of Etihad in Jet Airways and the implied bilateral agreement of air services between India and the UAE has primarily damaged Air India, which is a government-owned airline with huge assets that are extremely valuable.