Ansett airline heads for end of the runway, with thousands of jobs to go

It was a long process but Ansett Australia, established in 1935, was unable to continue operating despite a tie-up with Air New Zealand, which many blamed for the airline’s continual losses. Attempts to reboot Ansett eventually failed in 2002.

Ansett employees and supporters during a protest rally in Sydney's CBD. Picture: Dean Lewins

To celebrate this masthead’s 60th birthday we are publishing a sample of six decades of journalism. This story — first published on September 13, 2001 — recorded the demise of Ansett.

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Ansett Holdings was placed in voluntary administration last night after Qantas said the airline’s problems were too great for it to take on.

In a terse statement, the Air New Zealand board said it had made the move to enable Ansett to keep trading while new expressions of interest were pursued.

PricewaterhouseCoopers was appointed as voluntary administrator, a form of receivership that leaves the company a slim chance of survival.

Spokeswoman Robyn Newman said Ansett would operate as normal today, and that the airline was still taking forward bookings.

“We don’t have any deadlines imposed around the voluntary administration so the immediate message is we’re still flying,’’ she said. “We’re still going to be operating some 400 flights a day and we have around about 30,000 customers booked tomorrow.’’

The announcement ended a confusing day in which the Qantas rejection was followed by two further proposals from Air NZ.

Qantas looked at Ansett’s books but joined Singapore Airlines in concluding the loss-­making airline was too much of a liability.

“The numbers didn’t stack up for what we’re doing,’’ Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said.

Transport Minister and Acting Prime Minister John Anderson said he was disappointed at Qantas’s decision, but recognised Qantas had to put shareholders’ interests first.

The decision to place Ansett in administration gives some breathing space to the airline’s 16,000 workers.

Ansett aircraft cleaner Lynne Tomlinson wipes away tears after arriving at work today and being told that administrators had grounded all Ansett planes. Picture: Dean Lewins

Air NZ originally threatened to place Ansett in liquidation last night, after legal advice that directors could no longer leave the company or themselves exposed to the Australian carrier’s losses.

The move came after Air NZ unsuccessfully tried to convince the Australian government it should liquidate Ansett and start a new low-cost airline called Ansett 2.

The Kiwis wanted Canberra to underwrite Ansett’s operating losses and pay out redundancies.

The government’s refusal to come to the party leaves an employee buyout by a consortium of Ansett pilots, engineers and management as the airline’s last hope.

But this hinges on government support to keep the airline flying.