Former aviation rivals Geoff Dixon and Brett Godfrey have buried the hatchet and launched a new tourism venture which they say will redefine Australia as an adventure holiday destination.
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As chief executives of Qantas and Virgin Australia, Mr Dixon and Mr Godfrey tussled fiercely during the 2000s as the national airline and its rival upstart fought for passengers and market share.
But the pair announced on Monday they had joined forces to launch the Australian Walking Company, with the hope to ignite Australia as a destination for walkers and hikers and emulate New Zealand's popularity with adventure and eco tourists.
The company has purchased the Twelve Apostles Lodge Walk, a four-day guided tour on Victoria's southwest coast.
The high-end tour takes small groups from Castle Cove to the famous Twelve Apostles limestone stacks, off the coast of Port Campbell National Park, while staying in luxury "off the grid" huts fitted out with solar-powered heating, foot spas and manned by a live-in chef.
AWC will be operated by the Tasmanian Walking Company, which Mr Godfrey and fellow former Virgin executive Rob Sherrard bought in 2013.
TWC has been operating in the island state for 25 years and owns other high-end walks including the Cradle Mountain Huts Walk, which follows the Overland Track through the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Mr Dixon said he hoped AWC could mirror the success of New Zealand and South America in developing iconic walks for tourists.
"What we really hope to achieve is to make [AWC] into a good business - and we believe we are well on the way already by buying the Twelve Apostles walk - but also to create really special tourism ventures for Australia," he said.
"This is a huge country with great diversity and we really do believe that there are opportunities to grow it a lot further."
He said they were already look at opportunities for more walks at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Northern Territory and on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.
Mr Dixon was Qantas CEO from 2001 to 2008 while Mr Godfrey became Virgin's founding CEO Australia in 2000 and ran the airline until 2010.
They had a spirited rivalry following Virgin's Australian launch as Virgin Blue, which Mr Dixon publicly said would go broke within its first year.
But the rivalry eased while sitting together on the board of Tourism Australia, which Mr Dixon stood down as chairman of last month.
"We've always been friendly, and certainly over the past few years working together, so it was very easy for us to have a chat and look at these opportunities together," Mr Dixon said.
"Obviously we had a robust, competitive environment back then, there's no doubt in the world, but there were no personalities attached to it."
Mr Godfrey said he had joined AWC with "determination to raise the profile and quality of Australian guided walks, which have long been under-weight on the world's stage".
The fledgling company has its eyes on the 70,000 Australians it estimates walk overseas every year.
Mr Godfrey and Mr Sherrard together own several other Tasmanian tourism ventures, including Quamby Estate and Country Club, Entally Lodge and Vineyard, and the Low Head Pilot Station, as well as Makepeace Island, near Noosa, Queensland, along with Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.
Scott Malcolm, chairman of Sydney-based advisory firm Greenstone Partners, is also part of the AWC consortium.
Tourism Australia managing director John O'Sullivan said the men behind AWC had a history of success in the industry and predicted they would help grow "high-yield" tourism.
"They are an exciting and welcome addition to a relatively untapped market," he said.
