A National Extension Service for Australian Manufacturing Industry: A Report to the Australian Industry and Technology Council, Nicholas Clarke and Associates, Nicholas Clark and Associates, 1985, 0959013202, 9780959013207, . DOWNLOAD HERE , , , , . Members of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Maori communities are advised that this catalogue contains names and images of deceased people. All users of the catalogue should also be aware that certain words, terms or descriptions may be culturally sensitive and may be considered inappropriate today, but may have reflected the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written. Ansett Australia, or Ansett-ANA as it was commonly known in earlier years, was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Victoria. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia.[1] The airline was placed into administration in 2001 after suffering financial collapse, and subsequent organised liquidation in 2002, subject to deed of company arrangement. The company was founded by 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.[2] Ansett's first route between Hamilton, Victoria 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 Reg 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 L-10s.[2] At this time, the Australian domestic airline travel sector was dominated by Australian National Airways (ANA), established in 1936 by a consortium of British-financed Australian shipowners. The Chifley Federal Government was determined to establish a state-owned airline to operate all domestic and international services. It was eventually thwarted in this aim by the High Court of Australia, and so it established Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) to operate in competition with ANA.[2] Ansett Airways remained a bit player as ANA and TAA battled for supremacy in the 1940s and 1950s. Ansett operated around the big two, maintaining budget fare interstate operations with DC-3s and later Convair CV-340s. The airline was backed up by extensive road transport operations, including Ansett Freight Express and Ansett Pioneer Coaches, as well as the Ansair coach building operation. The Menzies government, while supporting TAA, because of the excellent dividends it paid to the government, wanted to avoid TAA having a monopoly on domestic services if ANA collapsed, as seemed likely. The only alternative, as it transpired, was for Ansett to buy the ANA operation. Ansett's bid had a number of financial supporters, most prominent of these being the Shell Oil Company. Douglas Aircraft Company was also concerned about ANA's demise, as TAA had ceased to be a customer for their aircraft. The ANA directors fiercely resisted this initially, but in October 1957 succumbed to Ansett's offer of £3.3 million for their airline. The new entity was called Ansett-ANA, the name it retained until 1 November 1968, when it became Ansett Airlines of Australia.[2] Ansett-ANA's excellent profit record was, at least in part, courtesy of the Menzies government's Two Airlines Policy. The policy effectively blocked any other domestic interstate operators by way of a ban on importation of aircraft without a government licence. From 1957 until the 1980s, under the strict rules set down by the Two Airlines Policy, Ansett and TAA operated as virtual carbon copies of each other, operating the same aircraft at the same times, to the same destinations, at fares, which were identical (under strict Federal Government policy). If either airline wished to change their fares, they had to obtain Federal Government approval.[2] Reg Ansett then set out to ensure no other competitors could rise up to challenge his airline. He took control of Adelaide based Guinea Airways (renamed Airlines of South Australia) and Sydney based Butler Air Transport (renamed Airlines of New South Wales). The takeover of Butler was achieved with covert support from the Menzies government and by Ansett engineering his employees' purchases of Butler shares (in a similar way as had just been attempted by Butler). He then flew the employees to a general meeting in Sydney and forced a vote in favour of selling out to Ansett.[2] Following the takeover of ANA, Reg Ansett lobbied the government to block TAA's purchase of Sud Aviation Caravelle jet aircraft. He was concerned about his airline's ability to finance equivalent jet aircraft, and the major engineering leap required to go from an all-piston fleet direct to pure jet aircraft, TAA had been operating prop-jet Vickers Viscounts since 1954, and so had expertise in jet technology. Ansett was successful in convincing the government to authorize the importation of more Viscounts and the new Lockheed L-188 Electra. This action delayed the introduction of pure jet aircraft to Australian skies until 1964, when the Boeing 727–100 began flying. Ansett lost control of the company to Peter Abeles' TNT and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 1979, with Abeles taking operational control of the airline. The airline prospered in the 1980s, however a number of substantial investments performed badly, including a share in the US airline America West Airlines (which filed for bankruptcy, but survived) and its Hamilton Island resort (which went into receivership). Ansett also paid millions of dollars for the right to be official airline of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, an investment generally regarded as unwise. This destabilised the financial position of the company considerably. Ansett 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 a 50% stake in Ansett Australia for A$540 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.[3] The Australian government then changed the rules to allow foreign airlines to fly domestic routes[citation needed]. Competition from Qantas and a succession of start-up airlines (Impulse Airlines and Virgin Blue), top-heavy and substantially overpaid staff, an aging fleet and grounding of the Boeing 767 fleet due to maintenance irregularities left Ansett seriously short of cash, losing $1.3 million a day.[1] Air New Zealand attempted to cut Ansett's costs while maintaining the same level of revenue. This did not work, as the cost cutting hurt Ansett. Additionally, Ansett's fleet had been allowed to deteriorate, a situation which came to a head with a partial grounding of its fleet during the Christmas 2000 season and a full grounding in Easter 2001. Ansett was thus unable to compete with the low cost carriers and Qantas, who were able to run at a loss on some routes, as they could not maintain revenue while cutting their costs, which included laying off staff.[citation needed] A deal made in April 2001 for Ansett to purchase Virgin Blue was repudiated by Virgin chief Richard Branson in August,[5] 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. Quickly running out of both lines of credit and options, Air New Zealand placed the Ansett group of companies into voluntary administration with PriceWaterhouseCoopers on 12 September 2001. In the early hours of 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 employees had no warning of the stoppage in operations. Everyone had been told in the days leading up to 14 September that flights would continue on schedule, and 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.[1] Widespread protests were held by workers, including the blockade of an Air New Zealand plane about to carry New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark home from Melbourne.[7] It was alleged by the then administrators that Air New Zealand had engaged in asset stripping of the airline as well as charging of its fuel costs due to Air New Zealand failing to hedge its fuel costs thus leaving it susceptible to major fluctuations in fuel charges during 2000.[8][9] This claim was strongly denied by Air New Zealand, noting it had funded Ansett's loss of A$180 million in the last year, and Ansett's administrators soon admitted there was no evidence of any asset stripping.[10] After receiving a federal government guarantee, Ansett resumed limited services between major cities on 1 October 2001, utilising only the Airbus A320 fleet.
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