Australian flag carrier Qantas has announced its Asian expansion plans that include operating five brand names in the effort of targeting the Chinese market.

The move comes as the airline continues to struggle with its current international operations, which it says are unprofitable. But chief executive Alan Joyce and Qantas are looking to change all that with five separate brand names that will target China, which offers a market about 60 times larger than Qantas’ home market in Australia.

Previous announcements said that one of the airlines – a premium carrier – would be based in either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore whilst another would be a Japan-based low-cost carrier following the Jetstar model. Yesterday saw reports that the former would most likely be dubbed ‘Red Q’. The two new ventures will work alongside the airline’s other three carriers, which currently are based in Vietnam (Jetstar), Singapore (Qantas International) and Australia (Qantas).

Mr Joyce said in a statement this week that targeting the Chinese market was ‘critical’ for Qantas and said that the opportunity for growth in the region was ‘huge’. Joyce and carrier officials say the move is needed for Qantas International to effectively compete with Middle Eastern carriers for European routes and US carriers for transpacific routes.