Qantas has announced it has signed a formal agreement to purchase Perth based fly-in/fly-out resource contract charter operator Network Aviation, which is to become a fully owned Qantas subsidiary.
“We have reached agreement with the owners of Network Aviation to purchase the business. It presents strong growth opportunities and we will immediately look at significantly growing its fleet and its operations,” said Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.
“This is very much a strategic acquisition and an exciting growth opportunity for Qantas,” Joyce noted. “This is an important market, and a growth market, and Qantas will now become a key player in meeting the needs of the resources sector. This will significantly enhance the scope of what Qantas can offer the mining sector, bringing new competition to the marketplace.
According to Qantas, Network will retain its current management, employees and operating structure, but Network’s standards and processes will be aligned to Qantas standards.
Network operates two 100-seat Fokker 100s and six 30-seat Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias, both of which are new types to the Qantas Group fleet.
The acquisition looks to give Qantas a greater presence in the WA resource charter market, which has been dominated in recent years by Skywest, Alliance Airlines and Cobham Aviation Services. It could also form a part of Qantas’s bid to operate RPT turboprop intrastate services under the new aviation framework put forward by the WA state government in previous months.
Qantas’s plans to acquire Network were first revealed in early October, with the deal then valued at a reported $30 million.
