9/13/2001: Ansett Australia Ceases Operations

DALLAS — Today, in 2001, Ansett Australia (AN) ceased operations. The iconic airline, which traced its history back to 1935, had been struggling financially since the early 1990s.

Prior to Australian deregulation in 1990, aviation in the country was heavily regulated. Just two carriers, Ansett and Qantas (QF), had the rights to operate the majority of routes. In an attempt to stay ahead of its rivals, AN began to expand its network internationally to South Asia.

It then added the Boeing 747-300 in August 1994 and the 747-400, dubbed the Ansett "Spaceship", in April 1999. In March 1999, AN also became a member of Star Alliance.

Management also paid millions of dollars to be awarded the title of official airline of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The airline would go on to operate four of the type, all leased from Singapore Airlines (SQ).

Air New Zealand Takeover

In February 2000, Air New Zealand (NZ), which already controlled 50% of the struggling airline, purchased the remaining shares. NZ believed they could turn around Ansett's fortunes and began to aggressively cut costs.

But AN had an incredibly high-cost base and an aging fleet. Indeed, the fleet issues came to a head in December 2000, when a number of its Boeing 767s were grounded due to maintenance irregularities.

The issues continued well into 2001, with the country’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) grounding 10 of its 11 767s.

Air New Zealand could not sustain these losses, estimated at US$1.3 million per day, and placed the carrier into voluntary administration. In October 2001, Ansett MK. II was born in a vain attempt to revive the airline. Sadly, it too folded just five months later, on March 4, 2002.

Feature image: Ansett Australia "Spaceship" Boeing 747-412; VH-ANA@SYD;04.09.1999.