Two high-profile US investors have joined the take-over bid for bankrupt Australian airline Ansett.
Chairman of low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair and Continental Airlines director David Bonderman, along with former America West Airlines chief executive Bill Franke, will buy between 35% and 49% of the Ansett take-over vehicle, Tesna Holdings, owned by Australian entrepreneurs Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew. The take-over is set for 31 January.
Bonderman led the rescue of Continental in 1993, while Franke, who managed America West out of bankruptcy in 1994, now chairs the international aircraft financier Airplanes Group.
Ansett's administrators have conditionally sold Ansett's mainline operations to Tesna, with the deal expected to be endorsed by a creditors' meeting in January, although it is being contested by Virgin Blue and Lang, which had made a counter-offer for Ansett assets.
Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon says the carrier plans a major boost to competition on Air New Zealand's domestic routes."We'll be gearing up to have a much bigger international and domestic operation out of New Zealand, and that will happen very early in the new year," Dixon said last month, following a meeting with NZ finance minister Michael Cullen and transport minister Mark Gosche.
"We have a proposal that hasn't been approved as yet by our board to get some aircraft specifically for New Zealand," said Dixon.
Qantas says that a new NZ air operator certificate is one option being considered, while another would be to use Qantas subsidiary Impulse Airlines as a vehicle for New Zealand domestic expansion.
Source: Flight International
