Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) is planning to attempt a full take over of Alliance Airlines (QQ, Brisbane International), in which it currently holds a 19.9% stake, once the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) completes its review of the current ownership structure of the regional airline, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said during the IATA AGM in Seoul.

"We made our intentions clear, our medium- to long-term objective is to try a full take-over of Alliance Airlines. We think there is a lot of synergies with Network Aviation (NWK, Perth International) which flies the same Fokker 100 aircraft. We think it would bring scale benefits," Joyce said.

He pointed out that Alliance Airlines had high exposure to the booming resources sectors as it operates flights to the mining outposts. Qantas Group is targeting to expand on this market.

"We could continue growing organically but it'd take a lot longer. Buying Alliance Airlines would mean the capability to grow more rapidly," Joyce said.

Alliance Airlines currently operates twenty-seven F100s, five Fokker 50s, and fifteen Fokker 70s. The airline used to be a capacity provider for Qantas but currently does not operate any flights for the flag carrier. It wet-leases a number of its Fokkers to Virgin Australia International (VA, Brisbane International).

The carrier operates predominantly in Western Australia (out of Perth International) and Queensland (out of Brisbane International and Townsville).

Joyce pointed out that Qantas would keep the current management of Alliance Airlines and would not seek to change the airline's business model. It would strive to exploit synergies with its fully-owned capacity provider Network Aviation, which operates two A320-200s and seventeen F100s. Qantas bought Network Aviation in 2011.

The acquisition of a 19.9% stake in Alliance Airlines by Qantas is subject to a review by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Joyce said that he was certain that the review will prove that Qantas exercised no control over the subsidiary but admitted that the procedure could be time-consuming. Qantas will only decide on the timeline for its potential full takeover of Alliance Airlines once the ACCC review is completed.

Joyce also pointed out that Qantas Group will be careful with equity investment and had no immediate plans to acquire any more companies. This was echoed by Gareth Evans, Jetstar Group CEO.

"You've got to be very careful in Asia because you can lose a lot of money if you get it wrong. Jetstar is already in 16, soon to be 17 countries. Our strategy was never to be in every country. We keep our ears to the ground but it would have to be the right market, the right partner. Currently, we have no plans for additional Jetstar franchises," Evans said.

Jetstar has units in Australia (Jetstar Airways), Singapore (Jetstar Asia Airways), Viet Nam (Jetstar Pacific), and Japan (Jetstar Japan).