The Rise and Spectacular Collapse of Ansett Australia (Reworked)

[@UncleJoeLITE]

My mum, who died recently, was an Ansett Hostess & also time on the flying boats to Lord Howe Island. Thanks RMV. 🇦🇺

[@T.E.S.S.]

❤

[@davidpalmer9780]

Sorry for your loss of your Mum. Mum's are wonderful and I'm sure she has left you with many happy memories of her 'hostie' days flying and spending time with you. ❤

[@drstevenrey]

Wow, interesting story this. Never thought about it but Ansett, in my mind was a massive fixture in the airliner world. Great work.

[@DaveSCameron]

You encapsulated perfectly why I adore history. Best wishes.🙏☘️📚🇬🇧🇺🇸👏

[@Rocket-hb6jh]

AIRLINE world not airliner.

[@MT-lo7dt]

It’s true.. I ❤ to fly with Ansett too…the flight attendants were so nice , friendly and helpful,good service. I felt disappointed when they were gone ,still miss those days..

[@DaveSCameron]

What a truly superb and all compassing history channel you have created here and regardless of the attempts to sabotage it with #adverts and suchlike I’m deeply for your imparting your extensive knowledge with us all and please keep it coming Sir. ☘️📚🇬🇧 #OurHistory.

[@normandiebryant6989]

The final nail in the coffin was that Ansett was about 5 times the size of Air NZ. Ansett operated around 400 flights a day while Air NZ operated about 50. Merlin, the Ansett reservation system, was set up to operate multiple airlines at once but Air NZ decided that Ansett had to scrap almost all their computer systems and use whatever AirNZ did. This saddled Ansett with huge expenses, right at the time that Mel/Syd airfares plummeted from around $300 to $79, in order to compete with Virgin. In the end, no amount of bums-on-seats would cover the incredible costs incurred by the Ansett take-over by AirNZ.

[@paulmiller591]

Well done storyline. Poor Ansett never stood a chance, especially once Abeles got involved with the Australian government's insistence for Air NZ to buy them to operate inside Australia despite the airline already being a lemon by then. Air NZ was not much better under its useless management of the 1990s.

[@theothomas4287]

It was due to the heavy top management that caused Ansett to collapse as Air NZ had ended up buying a lemon which many of us at Air NZ new. There was so much in costs that were hidden in the purchase that once purchased came to light and the 9 11 incident was the final nail in the Ansett coffin.

[@d.a2500]

@@theothomas4287Yes you are correct, when Air NZ realised what they had taken on there was no way it was going to work.Do people know how many holidays the staff had a year.I worked out at the domestic terminal back then, trying to sack staff and clean that up was a step too far.Welcome to the real world not the Aussie way.

[@kcindc5539]

I flew for America West Airlines starting in 1989, and the equity from Ansett (along with our periodic exchange of 737 aircraft as well as select flight crew) added some texture to our airline even if it only lasted until our bankruptcy in 1991. I remember their 737-300s came from a number of sources and reflected a wide variety of unusual configurations as opposed to ours.

[@01FozzyS]

Was about to mention the HP connection but glad you did.

[@kcindc5539]

@@01FozzyS I never flew on Ansett while they were in existence, but they’ve always held a special place for any of us HP employees from that era.

[@01FozzyS]

@@kcindc5539 For sure! I came in a bit after,'92-'97.

[@kcindc5539]

@@01FozzyS awesome. We overlapped ‘92-‘94

[@01FozzyS]

@@kcindc5539 Cool!

[@warhamsterful]

flew ansett many times from melb -> sydney in the late 80s and early 90s. The best domestic austalian carrier, better than anything before and anything after.

[@MT-lo7dt]

You’re right.

[@MT-lo7dt]

You’re right.

[@roo72]

Nostalgia stained nonsense.

[@warhamsterful]

@@roo72 nope it really isn't nostalgia driven, they had the best rewards program, best lounges and most comfy seating, but you do you boo.

[@roo72]

@@warhamsterful Again. Nonsense. All that only because they were mismanaged and just to reiterate, nothing is ever as good as you remember it.

[@Whatiwantedwastaken]

Brilliant video - as are all of them - and whilst a sad topic it’s nice to see some Aussie content on your channel

[@DaveSCameron]

Agreed, what a gift of a channel.📚🇬🇧👏🇦🇺☘️

[@gregidour7315]

From memory Ansett had an archaic union rule that the 767's had to accommodate a flight engineer even though the plane didn't require one. Love seeing the old liveries of Air New Zealand.

[@davidpalmer9780]

Boeing actually built the flight deck of the 767 to have an operating Flight Engineer (FE) panel to give the FE's in a job. The 767 didn't require an FE's panel as the onboard computers replaced the work done by the FE. Highly inefficient and I see resistance to single pilot airliner operations today.

[@SethDrez]

@@davidpalmer9780 3 people in the flight deck dropping to just 2 pilots is a very different beast to removing a pilot entirely. Having 2 pilots is an absolute necessity as a redundancy, there are already many incidents (QF 72 is one off the top of my head) where having only one pilot would have significantly hampered the ability to bring the plane down safely. FOs are also usually trainees to hopefully one day move up to the captain role, and I definitely cannot see any airline (realistically) who would even table reducing their ability to train new generations of pilots. Worth stating that I agree the FE role was due to be made redundant anyways, but reducing pilots is a slippery slope.

[@davidpalmer9780]

@@SethDrez Thanks for your message and here's my counter argument... Boeing purchased a company a few years back called 'Aurora Flight Sciences' who develop autonomous flight solutions for aircraft and Airbus is invested in its 'Drogonfly' autonomous flight system too. It appears the future is to move to fully autonomous flight given the previous flight deck roles of radio operator, navigator & flight engineer are gone. Cargo operators will be first to move and will be making the operational savings first whilst proving the technology. Then, after a few years, the budget airlines will become very interested for the same reasons. It will happen without a big fanfare, just like the ETOPS rules were changed allowing airlines to move from 4 engines to 3 and now only 2 engined flight over remote parts of the world and this happened by proving the reliability of turbofan jet engines. The same will happen with single pilot ops and autonomous ops once the technology is proven.

[@phil4977]

I was booked on an Ansett flight the morning it went bust. Could not believe it. I had flown Ansett for years with the company I worked for. It was a sad day for Australia.

[@Bobman84]

A shame what we lost in this country, from car manufacturing to airlines to all the other industries.

[@paulmiller591]

Agreed, with all that manufacturing car plant knowledge in Vic, they should be making Teslas, not importing them.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

Australian domestic car manufacturing was *NEVER* economically viable. The foreign American and Japanese car companies only maintained a manufacturing presence in Australia due to: (a) imported car tariffs which made superior imported cars too expensive for ordinary consumers, and; (b) the Australian Government was obliged to pay a corporate bribe to the car companies. When these 2 conditions were no longer true, the foreign car companies promptly departed Australia. An American business analyst has a much better understanding of the former Australian car industry than those who live in Broadmeadow and Elizabeth. Irony. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXLLc6N5gdh0aKssi=WJF2wPaeZhnxpMh_

[@ChineseKiwi]

@@paulmiller591 the R&D is still in Australia. Ford have their R&D in Epping and near Werribee, and Toyota in Altona. And I rather have the Japanese, South Korean, Chinese, German, French and American taxpayers subsidise my car thanks.

[@ChineseKiwi]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b thank you! Someone actually gets it past the god awful nostalgia.

[@shinkicker404]

@@ChineseKiwidoesn’t mean it isn’t disappointing that we are so reliant on imports.

[@johnaquillo3397]

The Melbourne suburb of Nunawading is prounced with the "a" in the wading bit as an "o". So it's said as "Nunawoding". I always thought that Henry Bolte was said as "Bol-tee" but maybe my memory is faulty or people were making fun of the name (??)...others can definitively clear that point up. I'm pretty certain the Bolte Bridge is pronounced as the "Bol-tee Bridge". Love the series.👏 👏

[@RichardBough-yk2ei]

My first flight was on Ansett

[@av_oid]

Same! A 727 in WA, from memory from Port Hedland to Perth.

[@phil4977]

Likewise for me. Perth to Brisbane. I was in the last row. I was 24. Just promoted to State Sales Manager Nestle Qld. Totally green and full of ambition.

[@bar10ml44]

My first flight was Airlines of New South Wales "Mystery Flight" for $4. You phoned the day before for availability and then turn up at the specified time. For me it was pure magic.

[@whoswho119]

One of my favourite Wooster models was the Ansett B747-300. Great scheme on a Lump 👀❤️

[@AidanSherlock-uq1kf]

Well made

[@AlistairKiwi]

I flew Ansett many times while in Australia. Ok, 80s & 90s. They were better than Virgin Australia. Sad to hear that things have gone to heck for this company this century.

[@rogerjohnson6676]

Great story sir. Opened my eyes up as to what was going on in my home country and adopted country. Australia and New Zealand relations have always been complicated, first by sport, then my army alliance. Of course government intervention has been a major thing in the airline industry, and i really don't see how any airline makes a real profit these days, cost of safely, fuel, never mind planes and the relatively low cost of flying doesn't seem to as up economically. I don't know what writes one of the comments was talking about, you probably can't afford a proof reader on this network, but to me your stories are fascinating most of the time and art the least interesting. If there are errors I'm pretty sure they're unintentional so ignore the nay sayers and please continue.

[@ChineseKiwi]

As a Kiwi: Ah, yeah, uh...sorry....uhhhh ***runs***

[@mfrsr]

whoa...ChineseKiwi sighting ❤

[@leonkernan]

32:10 The NZ PM wasn't barred from landing in Melbourne, she was blockaded from leaving! In the end, they had to sneak her to the Air Force base at Sale and get her out that way.

[@LilliR4116]

Yes, I recall that day 😄

[@andrewyoung3299]

Ansett was a great airline. I remember reading somewhere that Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia), hired ex-Ansett crew for their 737 operations.

[@LilliR4116]

Not all, some of their services preferred them younger and with little to no experience in the airline industry. I recall a few flight attendants who applied for cabin crew with Virgin and were told they were too old at - 35, really? I applied for ground crew and I worked for Ansett, I got direct feedback from the Virgin recruiter, they preferred them younger with no experience - so they could mould them.

[@tng2057]

Rupert Murdoch managed to offload his shares at the right time. The Kiwis….

[@frazzleface753]

Nunawading Studios - Home of Neighbours, Prisoner (Cell Block H), and others. 😊 10:40 That must be the building there. The short side of the red bricked part was used for the exterior shots of the prison in Prisoner. That whole area is much more developed now.

[@tw25rw]

Very near me and I had no idea it was there.

[@andrewyoung3299]

It was the Channel 10 Studios until they moved to South Yarra, it's now owned by Fremantle Media!

[@rodblievers620]

For a start, TAA was formed when a Labor government attempted to nationalise the entire industry but failed. TAA then put great pressure on ANA as they had unlimited government financial support while simultaneously the government took every opportunity to damage ANA.

[@gregorylenton8200]

another great info show...thanks

[@Rocket-hb6jh]

Qantas and Australian were not merged by the government. Qantas was already a partially privatised company and PURCHASED Australian for $400M and merged it into their operations retiring the Australian brand and IATA Code of TN.

[@DKS225]

Impulse Airlines was based out of Williamstown Airport in Newcastle during it's tenure. That said the controversial collapse of Ansett was in the news for days and so were the protests by the aviation unions. The latter of which was of a scale almost similar to the boycotting of Frank Sinatra and his controversial 1974 Australian tour in which he called a female journalist a "Hooker".

[@super_slav91]

Fleet commonality is an issue, engine parts would be compatible depending on options, but pilot training, I would have ditched the 737's depending on age if less than 10 years on oldest keep the 737 otherwise replace with a320.

[@miscbits6399]

New Zealand has a staunch policy of "user pays" and NOT proppoing up failing companies from 1984 onwards, Clarke's refusal to bail out Air New Zealand had little to do with the politics of its owners and more to do with a philosophy that bailing out companies which were "too big to fail" had historiclly proven to be extremely damaging worldwide (see: British Leyland) and NZ having emerges from some of the most isolationist financial policies of any Cold War western ally had zero desire to return to the days of Muldoonism

[@malclock7981]

Excellent unbiased review. As someone from AirNZ who worked closely with the Ansett staff during the Star Alliance tie-up, We spent hundreds of hours (and $$$) trying to make it work. We almost went totally out of business due to the efforts but, blatant misdirection moved the blame to AirNZ rather than the real culprits (elegantly shown here!) The good side was commuting from Auckland to Melbourne every week, but, most good things come to an end. The bad side was losing touch with the many Ansett friends we made !

[@bigyin2586]

10.00 “Bolte” is pronounced “Bolty” not “Bolt”.

[@DaveSCameron]

Boltoff😂

[@andgate2000]

My uncle flew the chopper to Hamilton Island...before the runway was put in.

[@MrAnniebaby]

My late Father worked for Ansett until about 1986. When he started working it was Butler airlines. He always said Reg Ansett was a great boss.

[@ThroneOfBhaal]

Whats been reworked? :D

[@50654570]

There is a phrase we haven't heard for a long time...........Management Consultancy

[@halitosis75]

Their domestic first class and lounges were lovely

[@roo72]

Exactly the same as any other airline. Nostalgia is a preventable sickness

[@halitosis75]

@@roo72 triggered somewhat 😄

[@warhamsterful]

@@halitosis75 pretty sure he works for one 0f the lesser domestic carriers ;)

[@halitosis75]

@@warhamsterful that explains the bitterness ha-ha 😊 thanks

[@amsterob]

Branson was busted for his Necker Island antics.

[@davidpalmer9780]

Does anyone know of the 2 people who massively benefitted the most from the collapse of Ansett Australia ?

[@iiigraghu]

Excellent Presentation 🌹 Hearty Greetings from Hyderabad, India 🇮🇳

[@Your.Uncle.AngMoh]

Another well-researched video, Rory. Thank you. There was so much verbal abuse and vitriol when Ansett collapsed. People with large points balances in Ansett's frequent flyer program lost all their points and status credits. Passengers hoped that Qantas or Virgin might honour them, to no avail. There was also a bit of a stink when Virgin said they'd take on as many Ansett cabin crew as they could but they seemingly only selected the youngest and best-looking women. Your footage of Ansett staff in tears consoling one another was very real and cathartic. The ad campaign to re-launch Ansett used the Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush song "Don't Give Up" in an attempt to win over the flying public. I think Ansett was too far gone to have nothing short of a miracle or divine intervention rescue them. They went down for a third time, like a drowning man, and stayed down. I don't think Virgin Blue- now Virgin Australia- made a profit in its first decade of operation. The aim was to get as many "bums on seats" as they could and they squared off against the new low-cost offering from Qantas, JetStar, in a price war that did neither airline any good. JetStar could be viewed to have had its "big brother" Qantas to back it up, though the same could be said for the rest of the Virgin group backing their side. Virgin has had its own problems since then, starting around the time of the outbreak of Covid-19. Fun fact: Virgin Australia was initially called Virgin Blue for a reason. Their planes were predominantly red in colour and an Australian nickname for a redhead- especially a man- is "Bluey". As others have mentioned, a country as big as Australia which has a population of only around twenty-seven million people is always going to be tough for any new airline to break into: Compass, Impulse, and most recently Bonza have all fallen foul and perished, despite the best of intentions and re-worked business models. Regional Express (REX) took on the big players for inter-capital routes and is in a lot of trouble as a result. They should have kept to their own backyard servicing the smaller cities and towns that Qantas, JetStar, and Virgin don't. Another fun fact: One of the busiest inter-urban air routes in the world is between Sydney and Melbourne.

[@tld8102]

10:23 is just blatant corruption right

[@thepolishnz]

I remember flying ansett nz and then next thing I know it's qantas nz then jetstar Also so typical of post war commonwealth nations, we are gonna stop monopolys by having 2 state run airlines.

[@michaelhoffmann2891]

Politicians know which side their bread is buttered on. Which is why they won't mess with Qantas and Virgin, especially not their slots. That means the Bonzas, REX, Tiger (even an airline backed by Singapore Airlines couldn't make it) start from a hopeless starting position.

[@thepolishnz]

@@michaelhoffmann2891 I'm talking about when the aus government made the two airline rule and only allowed Qantas and taa to operate when they owned both. It's like when the nz government said air new Zealand and NAC couldn't compete when nac was domestic and air new Zealand was international only but both nationally owned

[@davidpalmer9780]

The 2 airline policy was a good thing as the population of Australia at the time could only support 2 airlines because it was a high cost business to maintain the aircraft and the safety of their passengers. Passenger safety would have been compromised in a competitive environment for the passenger dollar with 3 or more airlines.

[@thepolishnz]

@@davidpalmer9780 it's not exactly fair if both those airlines are government owned and subsidised.

[@AlistairKiwi]

Helen Clark was one of our worst NZ prime ministers. Ok, the worst. Terrible that all this corporate rubbish could have come between Kiwis & Ozzie's.

[@andgate2000]

Australia gov luvs a duopoly.

[@JimmyShields-z2h]

Dont just love government interference, control, law changes, inside trading, corruption, outside interest like railway, grain n other farming industries, worse then communists everything they did or touch stuff our trading industry all on backs of Australian taxpayers. We could had inland, country railways, airports running efficiently instead we got wasted money, complete waste of railways especially out in rural area n inland way but major inland highway to support future tansport, well done Australian fed n state governments.

[@prins_af_danmark]

AUSTRALIA AND ITS LABOR UNIONS

[@DaveSCameron]

Meaning what?? After all the Unions you speak of are ourselves…

[@Boababa-fn3mr]

I'd never trust management to do a good job, pay and treat workers well without unions to keep them in check

[@davidpalmer9780]

​@@DaveSCameronThe unions forced the airline to get Boeing to manufacture their 767's to have a Flight Engineers panel, even though the aircraft didn't need one, just to give the Flights Engineers in a job. Pathetic union.

[@drstevenrey]

I never got why Qantas is called Kwantas, but Qatar is called Katar. In my mind, either Kwater or Kantas. Confused as always.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

What? Qantas is short for Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service.

[@Mechanicalrob]

And Qatar is a country 😂

[@relwalretep]

For Aussies, the alternative pronunciation for Qantas is so utterly hilarious we can't quite even bring ourselves to notice it

[@ssj3gohan456]

Qatar is a transliteration, and an imperfect one because peninsular arabic has different letter sounds to english. So you're never going to get consistent notation of something that comes from a completely different language. Also, it's pronounced closer to 'Cutter' than 'Katar' - the first a-sound is somewhere in the middle of a 'u' as in bug and 'a' as in car.

[@EM-od6gu]

Lol never thought of that before. Qua tahr lol or Kahn tiss lol….

[@ColinMcCormack]

Ansett decided to require ID for domestic flights (Melb->Syd) and called APS on me when I declined. When I finally got home, I phoned them, and got the company accountant out of bed and on the phone at 11pm. I wanted to inform him that I was never flying Ansett again, and why. I never did. I still had to pay a premium tax to bail them out after they failed, which annoyed me ... they richly deserved to fail

[@chuckselvage3157]

How good was that? A stinking ad 35 secs in. Im definitely gonna buy that product,screw this video!

[@karlp8484]

Who cares?

[@daveberryman5946]

So man's many errors, please employ a proof reader. Very interesting otherwise. Loved the old videos (back in the day... : )

[@av_oid]

Which were? He mispronounced Nunawading, but most from outside of Melbourne do.

[@ivanb52]

LOL - you should proof read your own post

[@mirzaahmed6589]

Like what?

[@paulchrystie5460]

wd. mum worked ther for years. Nunnawading pronounced Nunner wadding ( one word)