Beginning The company was founded by
Reginald "Reg" Ansett in 1935 as
Ansett Airways Pty Ltd. This was an offshoot of his road transport business, which had become so successful it was threatening the freight and passenger revenue of
Victorian Railways. This led the state government to legislate to put private road transport operators out of business. Reg Ansett countered by establishing an airline, as aviation was under control of the federal government and beyond the reach of the state government. Ansett's first route between
Hamilton and Melbourne operated by a
Fokker Universal monoplane commenced on 17 February 1936. The rapid success of the airline led Ansett to float the business in 1937. As the route network expanded, Ansett Airways imported
Lockheed Electra aircraft. During
World War II, Ansett opted to suspend all scheduled services, except the Hamilton service, in favour of more lucrative work for the
United States Army Air Forces. After the war, Ansett battled to re-establish his domestic routes using war-surplus
Douglas DC-3s, converted from C-47s and the remaining Lockheed Electras. This diverse fleet of similar aircraft from different manufacturers was unusual in the airline industry. The new Boeing 767s were also beset by mechanical and maintenance issues, leading them to be out of service during several key periods of heavy traffic and operating for the airline at a loss. These issues were further reflected in Ansett's regional operations which had a wide range of
regional airliners of piston-, turboprop and jet-power types. Many of these were only operated in small numbers, adding to crew, training and maintenance costs and several key types were approaching 15 or 20 years old. This incurred increased costs to Ansett. In 1985, the same year the Airbus order was placed, Ansett became a launch customer for the
Fokker 50 turboprop, ordering ten aircraft with a view to replacing its successful but ageing fleet of
Fokker F27s. Ansett also ordered a total of 11
British Aerospace 146s, which gradually replaced
Fokker F28 Fellowship jets from 1990. In addition to these heavy spending costs on fleet renewal, a number of substantial investments performed badly, including a share in the US
America West Airlines (which filed for bankruptcy and survived) and its
Hamilton Island resort (which went into receivership). In 1984, Ansett along with TAA was embroiled in controversy after it banned
HIV-positive individuals from travelling on their planes to protect their staff. The Australian Flight Attendants Association ultimately rejected the bans. In October 1987, the Australian parliament voted to repeal the Airlines Agreement Act with effect from 31 October 1990. This
deregulated the airline industry in Australia and exposed Ansett to direct competition for the first time. Ansett had anticipated this change and in July of that year had acquired
East-West Airlines, a regional airline that had gradually expanded from its origins in New South Wales to become an inter-state operator. East-West had circumvented the regulations of the Two Airlines Policy by flying between the regulated state capitals via smaller intermediate airports, allowing it both offer a denser and more accessible service pattern and much lower fares than the ones set by regulation charged by Ansett and TAA. East-West had become Ansett's main competitor in many of its regional services and the airline's growth played a large part in the successful campaign to overturn the Two Airlines Policy. In preparation for deregulation East-West's owners sold the company but within weeks the new owner,
Stan Perron, sold the airline to Ansett. At this stage the East-West brand was retained, but with an updated livery. Similar deregulation of the airline industry had been introduced in
New Zealand in the late 1980s, and Ansett pursued this opportunity to expand its operations internationally. In 1987 Ansett entered into an agreement with the owners of the struggling New Zealand domestic airline
Newmans Air which saw Ansett Transport Industries take on a 50 per cent stake in a recapitalised and expanded company renamed
Ansett New Zealand. Ansett NZ adopted the same white Landor livery as its parent company, but with the four red stars of the
New Zealand flag on the tail in place of the six white ones (as per the
flag of Australia) on the Ansett livery, and therefore also lacking the green and orange 'speed stripes' on the tail. In its own preparation for the new deregulated industry, Ansett rebranded itself in mid-1990, taking on the name Ansett Australia and adopting a new livery with the
Australian flag on the tail. This change also saw the end of the East-West name, being replaced by 'Ansett Express', which was adopted for the short-haul and commuter services in New South Wales formerly operated by Ansett NSW and East-West. This rebranding also followed a period of
debt restructuring and by the start of 1994 the company was reported to be back to making an operating profit. By this point all the regional branding had been dropped, with all aircraft carrying the same Ansett scheme, and a new tail logo called the 'Starmark' (combining the Southern Cross of the previous livery, the blue of the flag livery and a stylised 'A' as a nod to Ansett's 1960s scheme) had been introduced. This final change also saw the withdrawal of the Ansett Express branding, with these services now being flown under the corporate Ansett Australia title. The deregulation of the industry also opened up possibilities for Ansett to move into international flights for the first time. On 11 September 1993, the first international Ansett flight was made to
Bali using a Boeing 767. To further expand its international operations, Ansett Australia leased a pair of
Boeing 747-300s from
Singapore Airlines in August 1994 to inaugurate services to
Osaka and
Hong Kong. Two more B747s were leased from Singapore Airlines the next year to enable services to
Jakarta in January 1996 and to
Shanghai in the summer of 1997. Ansett branded its B747s as 'Spaceships'.
Spaceship at
Sydney Airport in September 1999 In the late 1990s, Ansett paid millions of dollars for the right to be official airline of the
Sydney 2000 Olympics, an investment generally regarded as unwise. Ansett saw this tie-in as a key marketing opportunity to expand its presence in southern and eastern Asia. Five
Boeing 747-400s were leased (four
dry leased from Singapore Airlines and one
wet leased from
Qantas) to add further services and new routes to
Seoul,
Taipei, and
Kuala Lumpur. The aircraft were branded with 'Sydney 2000' livery. Neither the Olympic Games nor the new routes generated the expected traffic, and several of these new routes were withdrawn shortly after the Games concluded. This destabilised the finances of the company considerably, in tandem with other industrial and internal factors (see below) right before the
September 11 attacks affected the global airline industry and economy.
Air New Zealand merger and collapse in Melbourne to protest. 's culpability in Ansett's financial collapse. Ansett had expanded into New Zealand in 1987 through its subsidiary
Ansett New Zealand after the
government of New Zealand opened its skies to the airline. After the
government of Australia reneged on an agreement to reciprocate,
Air New Zealand tried to acquire a share of
Qantas when it was floated in 1995, but was not allowed. Instead, it bought TNT's 50% stake in Ansett Australia for A$475 million in 1996, though managerial control remained in the hands of News Corporation. Ansett Australia then had to divest itself of Ansett New Zealand to avoid creating a monopoly. In February 2000, Air New Zealand acquired full ownership of Ansett, buying out News Corporation's stake for A$680 million, surpassing
Singapore Airlines's A$500 million bid. Competition from
Qantas and a succession of low-cost airlines (
Impulse Airlines and
Virgin Blue), top-heavy and substantially overpaid staff, an ageing fleet, and grounding of the
Boeing 767 fleet due to maintenance irregularities left Ansett seriously short of cash, losing $1.3 million a day. and Singapore Airlines, which was initially blocked from buying Ansett, was also prevented from investing further in Air New Zealand/Ansett by the New Zealand government. It then declined to take up an earlier proposed deal to inject over $500 million into Air New Zealand and Ansett after talks collapsed. In early September 2001, as the trouble worsened, the New Zealand government prepared to rescue Air New Zealand (eventually buying 83% of the company for NZ$885 million), but cut Ansett adrift. Despite public pleas, the Australian government refused to bail out Ansett. Quickly running out of both lines of credit and options, Air New Zealand on 12 September 2001 placed the Ansett group of companies into voluntary administration with
PriceWaterhouseCoopers. On 14 September, the administrator determined that Ansett was not viable to continue operations (primarily due to the apparent lack of any funds to cover fuel, catering, or employee wages) and grounded the fleets of Ansett and its subsidiaries
Hazelton Airlines,
Kendell,
Skywest, and
Aeropelican. Flights already in the air at the time the decision was made continued on to their destinations. Customers and almost all employees had no warning of the stoppage in operations. An Ansett Boeing 767-200 operating on behalf of Ansett Airfreight due to depart Melbourne for Launceston, Tasmania, was the first aircraft to be stopped from flying. It was unable to be unloaded until midday the next day, as no paid staff were on duty. Everyone had been told in the days leading up to 14 September that flights would continue on schedule, and most Ansett employees did not find out until they showed up for work at dawn that day. Thousands of passengers were left stranded and more than 16,000 people found themselves out of a job, making this the largest mass job-loss event in Australian history. The then Ansett administrators alleged that Air New Zealand had engaged in
asset stripping of Ansett, and had sustained excessive fuel costs for Ansett due to Air New Zealand's failure to hedge them, leaving Ansett susceptible to major fluctuations in fuel charges during 2000. These claims were denied by Air New Zealand, noting it had funded Ansett's loss of A$180 million in the last year. Ansett's administrators later admitted no evidence of any asset stripping was found.
Ansett Mark II and Tesna After receiving a federal government guarantee, Ansett resumed limited services between major cities on 1 October 2001, using only the
Airbus A320 Skystar fleet. This was referred to as Ansett Mark II, an operation run and financed by Ansett Australia under administration. The purpose of getting Ansett back into the air was to attract a buyer for the business and to generate positive cash flow. Attempts by Ansett's Voluntary Administrators to re-engage Singapore Airlines to consider a role in resurrecting Ansett through a meeting on 6 October 2001 resulted in Singapore Airlines agreeing to play a consultancy role in this effort. The revived and scaled-back operation ran on a tight budget, and its service reflected that. It consisted of single-class seating with no catering, interlining baggage, valet parking, or frequent flyer points. After a month back in the air, the Golden Wing Club Lounges reopened, but like the scaled-back flying operation, provided no refreshments or other amenities apart from coffee and water. Ansett was essentially in "lock down" mode, while the administrators tried to source buyers in a very challenging market. Ansett Mark II traded only as "Ansett" in a different font to separate it from the former operation. It traded from Ansett terminals, with Ansett ground staff, crew, and baggage handlers working around the clock to make it a success with limited resources. Designated gates at each of Ansett's terminals were used for the operation, while aircraft not being used were moved away to more distant gates, with the disused concourses being sealed off. In November 2001, Ansett creditors voted to allow the Tesna consortium, led by Melbourne businessmen
Solomon Lew and
Lindsay Fox, to purchase Ansett's mainline assets. The plan involved creating a whole "new" Ansett out of the ashes of the old, but the trademark font and "Star Mark" logo reinstated. It would be a full-service, two-class, single fleet-type domestic airline. It included very reduced staff numbers and an all new
Airbus A320 fleet. The new Ansett would operate out of the old Ansett terminals, and temporarily lease the former Ansett's A320 fleet until newer replacements arrived. Loyalty products such as the Golden Wing Club and Global Rewards frequent-flyer program would be relaunched. Those members of Golden Wing Club at the time of the collapse would have their memberships reinstated for a six-month period if they used the new Ansett. A new CEO was sourced and hired, and began to put together a new management team. A new head office was planned, and
Airbus showcased a new A320 to the consortium. A new catering company was selected, with new Business and Economy Class in-flight meals trialed on passengers on select Mark II services in readiness for the new operation. The agreement with Ansett's administrators, although well-advanced, collapsed in late February 2002. Without any prior warning, the administrators announced on 27 February that Fox and Lew had withdrawn their bid, citing "[i]nability to complete the transaction on legal advice". At a press conference the same day, Fox and Lew announced that they had received no financial support from the government for their bid, and were therefore withdrawing. With no other saviours, and no realistic chance for Ansett to be revived as a viable concern, the administrators had no choice but to cease all flying operations at 23:59 on 4 March 2002, with the last commercial flight, AN152 from
Perth to
Sydney, operated by
A320-211 VH-HYI, touching down at 06:53 on 5 March. Staff filled Golden Wing Lounges across the country for mass wakes as the final flights came in to land.
Entitlements By this point, the administration of the company had transferred to newly formed insolvency firm
KordaMentha. The
Australian Securities & Investments Commission began an investigation of whether Ansett had traded while insolvent, and eventually determined in July 2002 that it would be too expensive and difficult to proceed with an action which would, in any case, need to be many separate actions on behalf of individual creditors rather than just one. With Ansett now grounded again, the administrators began selling off Ansett's assets. This included its regional subsidiary airlines, which still continued to trade despite Ansett being grounded. A creditors meeting post March 2002 voted in favour of an organised wind-up of the operation, under a deed of company arrangement, as opposed to an immediate liquidation. It was viewed that a deed of arrangement would give creditors a greater return than liquidation would provide. Laid-off Ansett workers were eventually paid most of their entitlements, partly from an A$150 million compensation package offered by Air New Zealand in return for having the ASIC inquiry dropped, but mostly through asset sales and leasing revenue. The Federal Government did provide an A$350 million loan which is being repaid by the Administrators at the same time as the staff are being repaid however, to ensure that there is no exposure to taxpayers, a $10 per seat levy was imposed by the Federal Government on Australian airline passengers. Employees ended up receiving 96% of their entitlements.
Administration and asset sales VH-RMO being scrapped at the
Mojave Airport & Spaceport Ansett's administrators,
KordaMentha, initially advised creditors that it was unlikely that much more money would be realised, due to the depression of the global aviation industry after the
September 11 attacks in
New York City and
Washington, DC, had the effect of reducing the value of aircraft from A$300 million to A$70 million. In the months following the final flight, the administrators negotiated the sale of the terminal leases back to the airport owners, recouping millions. Auctions were held to sell Ansett's airport furniture and equipment. Its headquarters at 465/489 and 501
Swanston Street, Melbourne were sold to PDG Corporation. Some aircraft stored in heavy maintenance were broken up, as it was not cost-effective to restore them to an airworthy state. The disposal of the former fleet did not progress quickly, given the depressed aviation market and the subsequent lack of demand by other carriers around the world whose operations had been crippled by the 9/11 attacks only months before. Following the final flight, nearly all of the A320 fleet was ferried back empty to Melbourne, where they sat at abandoned gates in storage. The
Airbus A320 and
Boeing 737 fleets ultimately found new owners first, and departed Australia between March 2002 and December 2006 as the banks finally reclaimed them, or as new owners were found. The two
Boeing 747s that were leased from
Singapore Airlines were reclaimed within weeks of the collapse and returned to Singapore Airlines, which restored the original colours. They subsequently found new lives and were leased to
Fiji's national carrier
Fiji Airways, then known as Air Pacific. The more modern
Boeing 767-300, of which Ansett had two, were reclaimed by the lessors in the following months, while two new Boeing 767-300 aircraft which arrived too late to enter service with Ansett, departed soon after. One aircraft was
wet leased on a short-term basis by
Qantas to bring additional aircraft to cover the loss of Ansett, but the aircraft retained its Ansett registration while under lease to it. Another new 767-300, which was halfway through its ferry from Canada, never made it to Australia and returned to Canada. The Kendell
CRJ-200 jets returned to Canada within twelve months of the initial collapse. ,
Victoria, in 2026 With the newer aircraft gone, most of the older Boeing 767-200 fleet were moved from the Melbourne terminal gates as
Virgin Blue moved into the former Ansett Terminal, and were placed into long-term storage at the Ansett Engineering Base until late 2004, when most were sold off to Aeroturbine and flown to the United States to be broken up into spare parts. Many of the
British Aerospace 146 aircraft were also stored but broken up at Melbourne. As of 2008 the remains of one BAe 146 sit derelict at
Brisbane Airport, and another BAe 146 remains at
Perth Airport, although neither of them are still owned by Ansett or expected to fly again. A lone Boeing 767-200 survived the scrappers cull, was sold and continues to fly in the United States as a charter aircraft. As of 2006, there were still in excess of 217,000 items and two properties belonging to the airline remaining for sale. In June 2011, it was announced that the Special Employee Entitlements Scheme for Ansett employees had finished making payments to former staff and the administration of Ansett had come to an end. Staff received roughly 96% of their entitlements. ==Fleet==