Ansett and deregulation

[RacerX]

Well the deregulation of the airline industry doesn't seem to have worked too well.

Sure we got brief periods of cheap fares. Apart from that services to regional centres have gotten worse. Destructive competition has been rampant and we have seen a couple of new boys bite the bullet in very quick fashion. Now Ansett looks like the next victim.

Does deregulation = creating monopolies

It sure seems that way in Oz. I reckon that Governments are there to regulate dammit.

And don't get me started on the dairy industry.

 

[Danni]

Actually got to find it rather ironic, Air NZ tries to buy Virgin Blue, what was it, less than 2 weeks ago? Offered 250M or something. Now they are on the wire, heading straight into financial oblivion.

Deregulation has not worked one iota for the airline industry in my opinion. It has had the exact opposite effect. Helped create monopolies, downsized the workforce, poorer maintenance standards, poorer service standards.

All I can say is thank goodness for an egomaniac like Richard Branson. His input into competition has been a godsend for Domestic travellers.

Bad management and greedy shareholders, fat-cat overpaid executives etc etc etc are the reasons we have been paying so much for airfares in previous years. They saw deregulation as a way to increase their profits, instead it is backfiring on them, or so I hope.

If Virgin Blue can operate with such low fares and make a $15M+ profit, then I am all for them being able to keep the others on their toes.

Oh yeah and definately glad the qantas website was so much easier to use to book airfares than the ansett one (virgin had no cheap ones left when I looked), for when I booked my GF week holiday. What if Ansett goes belly up in the next 2 weeks? will be a fair few disgruntled footy fans around!

 

[Pornstar]

I probably can't offer an unbiased opinion here because i have shares in Qantas and i am pretty happy with the way their share price is rebounding at the moment.

 

[TigerTank]

And the person at the helm of Ansett when it started going down - the man most directly responsible for wrecking a great Australian company was ...

 

[Frodo]

The problem is that deregulation was thwarted.

We had incredibly expensive air fares and poor service before deregulation. The reason was that the industry was controlled by trade unions and not managed. After deregulation the huge awards were still in place and still are in Ansett and Qantas today. Add to that the cost of extra safety procedures such as Airbus, designed for a two man cockpit and used with two worldwide except for Australia where there are three!!! Along comes Compass with normal costs, cheaper fares and better service and Ansett/Qantas squeeze them out with predatory tactics that would not be allowed in any other civilised country in the world. Impulse cam along but Virgin Blue has so much cash that neither Qantas or Ansett could do a Compass on them. Qantas still has good international earnings to fall back on but not Ansett. They simply cannot compete with costs 250% of that of other airlines around the world.
They should go into administration with all employee contracts up for re negotiation and all awards scrapped. Only then will SIA come in and make Ansett good. And then Qantas is in trouble as they will be uncompetitive.
Not many people realise that a Perth -Sydney return fare on a crappy 737, paying for drinks, pathetic food and service is more expensive than Perth-Singapore return with SIA (same distance) on a 767, free drinks including French champagne, nice meal, wonderful service and interactice movie selections for every seat and includes 3 night in a 4 star hotel!!!!

Three cheers for Richard Branson

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Apparently Qantas has just rejected a takeover of Ansett...it looks likely they will go into liquidation - this is a total disaster on what has already been one of the worst weeks I can remember.

 

[coxon]

yes.. cheers for richard branson...

i agree, the qantas site is easy to navigate, check for fares..

i regularly got pissed off with using the ansett one... eg. need to register, clumsy navigation...

 

[RacerX]

Ansett has gone to the wall. 16000 aussies have been given the arse and thousands more probably out of pocket or left high and dry.

This sort of thing (deregulation/reregulation) better start becoming an issue for the federal election.

I wonder if the WTC tragedy will change the push to free market and globalisation.

 

[Pessimistic]

I wonder....

If John Howards government will be judged by voters on the handling of the Tampa Crisis, or the Ansett crisis.

I shudder to think the rhetoric if unions were responsible for this gross incompetance.

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

don't blame de-regulation

blame years and years of incompetence and total neglect by successive owners and managers of Ansett.

Deregulation has only opened the aviation market to more (and so tougher) competition.

Ansett has got by for decades because they have enjoyed political patronage at the highest level.

Reg Ansett - Bolte / Menzies

Peter Abeles - Hawke / Keating

and so it went on untill the full force of deregulation exposed Ansett has a badly run outfit with too many costs, a poorly maintained fleet of too many different types of aircraft and locked into a discount war that it had not a hope of surviving.

and because Ansett has been bought and sold several times over in this period, they have never had an owner who was prepared to put in the capital necessary to update their ramshackle fleet or address in any serious way the rampant mismanagement of the operation that had been going on for years and years before the sh|t finally hit the wall.

cheers

 

[rickster]

re:

The government is not responsible for bailing Ansett out, it is a privately owned company. As has been mentioned, it is quite possible to run an airline profitably. And did you know they spent $100m on sponsorship and advertising at the Olympics?

If Ford went bust would the government have to bail them out?

cheers

 

[Frodo]

Don't forget that SIA made a bid to buy Ansett a few years ago and AirNZ used an option to buy it instead. It was AirNZ's folly and their management has been pathetic.
Air NZ should pay every creditor and honour every ticket by booking on other flights.

Ansett may be down but a more competitive industry will result. Where there is demand for flights new people wil buy the Ansett jets and the industry wil be revitalised. Sometimes there is a need for pain before gain.

 

[Danni]

Well I am feeling pretty lucky that by luck I ended up booking my next Melb trip for GF week with Qantas. The reason? Qantas website was up and running and Ansett's kept crashing the day I was making the booking.

Just wondering....can anyone remember.... was it Ansett that swallowed TAA a few years ago?

And boy oh boy was Richard Branson right to tear up that offer 2 weeks ago.

Only 2 weeks ago Ansett offer 250M for Virgin, now they can't pay their staff?

 

[RacerX]

I'm sure that poor management of Ansett contributed greatly to Ansetts demise. I guess Air NZ were also stripping the company of assets during their period of ownership.

But the destructive discount war played a large part in Ansetts demise. A discount war that would not have happened in a regulated market.

In which case I guess we can partially blame deregulation.

I am not as optimistic about the industry. Being as competitive as it is airlines will only fly the most profitable routes. Regional centres will be left out and even captial cities will suffer. Recently we had a case where Qantas was going to stop direct flights from Perth to Japan, the effect on the local tourism business would be huge.

 

[Forum_Leader]

HOW WILL HAWTHORN GET TO ADELAIDE - BUS IT

Just watching the news guys, looks as though the Ansett workers are going to or are preventing flights out of major airports around the country. Where does this leave the Hawthorn team. How do they get to Adelaide or r they already in Adelaide. Interesting isn't it. Or will they Bus it over to S.A. or will they allow a private jet company to do the work?

Absolutely......

 

[mantis]

Danni

I too booked & paid for my GF trip with Qantas, I stopped using Ansett when they were having safety problems.

My only fear is now, that us people in the west will no longer get cut price airfares, as Qantas have no opposition now & all their flights will be filled because of the demand, no more cheap redeye specials, looks like I will only be able to go to melbourne once a year.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Re: HOW WILL HAWTHORN GET TO ADELAIDE - BUS IT

Originally posted by Forum_Leader
Just watching the news guys, looks as though the Ansett workers are going to or are preventing flights out of major airports around the country. Where does this leave the Hawthorn team. How do they get to Adelaide or r they already in Adelaide. Interesting isn't it. Or will they Bus it over to S.A. or will they allow a private jet company to do the work?

Absolutely......

Are you serious....ALL FLIGHTS????? When did this happen? I was under the impression Qantas flights were still going. This is a disaster.

Just a hypothetical - if the Hawks can't get there until tomorrow, should the game be delayed? It seems terribly unfair that a team's preparation could be upset like this the day before it's biggest match of the season.

I remember during the pilot's strike of 1989 - Hawthorn were forced to travel by light plane to Brisbane and arrived at 2PM. The game was pushed back an hour but players were getting changed on the bus and stuff. The Hawks lost by 16 points in a massive upset.

 

[Danni]

GOALden Hawk, it was reported that ALL qantas staff MAY be walking off the job this afternoon on strike, in sympathy with all Ansett staff.

nothing concrete yet

 

[Forum_Leader]

GOALden Hawk
--------------------

No there has been no mention of football being affected at this stage. I'm only looking into the future as the day pregresses. I'm watching SKY News AU which have the Ansett dispute on. I heard also that the New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark is stuck in Melb. cos Ansett workers are blockading the N.Z. airlines terminal. She was conveyed out of there by police airwing..
I don't think that the Ansett workers have thought about preventing AFL (Hawthorn) out of Melbourne, although it would be a good tool for them considering that Ansett sponsor (or did) the AFL. They were saying that even Qantas may go out in sympathy and RAAF may be bought in to ferry passengers. All specualtion at this stage. Sydney aiport has been SHUT DOWN. at 1130 so look out melbourne.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Yep, just heard Sydney airport is closed to ALL traffic, both domestic and international, with other airports likely to close as well.

Now I'm really annoyed - how many people are going to be affected by this?

Still, the only positive is if Hawthorn lose, we have an excuse now!

 

[Forum_Leader]

Hawthorn team OK ....

11.56 am Fri.

Just heard on SKY News Aust that the AFL have already made a deal with Qantas to fly Hawthorn to Adelaide this week and also deals for the remainder of the finals series..

Thank Goodness..

The reporter also mentioned that the Hawthorn F.C. are looking into how to get the fans to Adelaide to support their club if they cannot get an alternative flight. Contact the Club.

Hang in there guys..

 

[TigerTank]

Don't blame the Government for the destruction of Ansett.

The former Chief Executive Officer of Ansett wrecked the company for his own selfish gain before he was sacked.

He is currently Chairman of an AFL club.

 

[Danni]

Originally posted by TigerTank

He is currently Chairman of an AFL club.

WEll don't leave those of us without a clue in suspense tiger tank!

Is it one of the current struggling clubs?

Tell us please!!!!!!!

 

[TigerTank]

It's not one of the struggling clubs.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Originally posted by TigerTank
It's not one of the struggling clubs.

This one has got me beat. Is it Graham Downie?