The upheaval that followed Ansett's closure, its repercussions and the precarious state of its former parent Air New Zealand (ANZ) now preoccupy civil aviation stakeholders in Australia and New Zealand.
ANZ acquired TNT's 50% shareholding in Ansett in June 1996, but News Corp remained at the helm under a management contract, although ANZ held three seats on the board. In that mode, then-Ansett managing director and former Cathay Pacific chief Rod Eddington limited Ansett's loss-making, but the co-owners made no significant attempts to reduce debt, arrest the airline's market share decline or establish plans for fleet upgrading, industrial reform or other cost-reduction strategies. Eddington's well-publicised comment summed up his airline's situation at that time: "Ansett is a wonderful airline, but a very poor business."
Singapore Airlines (SIA) made a bid for News Corp's half share of Ansett in April 2000, offering ANZ's board the prospect of becoming an equal partner in an airline virtually assured of near-equality with Qantas through access to two missing essentials - ample capital and the benefits of SIA's unequalled commercial stature. Instead, according to its many critics, ANZ exercised its pre-emptive right to match SIA's offer, condemning Ansett to a lingering decline as those fundamentals were snatched away. Eddington soon moved on to his new post, heading up British Airways.
The Ansett/ANZ severance in September was a last-ditch attempt by ANZ to cut Ansett adrift on the eve of the New Zealand carrier's announcement of its worst ever financial result, and was only partly successful. Although it has closed out its liabilities to Ansett for an agreed A$183 million ($92 million), its board members are still being investigated by the Australian Securities Investment Commission over governance issues and its shares are trading at less than a quarter of SIA's NZ$1.31 ($0.54) offer.
Former ANZ president and chief executive Gary Toomey, announcing his departure on 9 October, understated: "I believe the board's decision to place Ansett in voluntary administration means the future Air New Zealand must set its sights on different goals from those that drew me to the company."
Source: Flight International
