Ansett Australia, the main rival to Qantas back at the turn of the century, collapsed after facing new low-cost-carrier competition, low demand following the September 11th, 2001 attacks and fleet problems. We take a look at what went wrong for the Australian airline.

Ansett Australia 747 Sydney
Ansett Australia paid heavily to be the official airline of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Photo: Aero Icarus via Wikipedia

Who was Ansett Australia?

With all this talk of Virgin Australia halting its share trading, we are oddly reminded of a similar Australian airline that went through the same process back in 2001. Ironically, this eventual collapse paved the way for Virgin Australia to become the new rival to Qantas.

We are talking, of course, about Ansett Australia, which at its peak operated a surprisingly diverse fleet of 134 aircraft. Here is the fleet makeup at the airline's peak:

Aircraft Type

Number of planes

Airbus A320-200

20

BAe 146-200/200QT/300

18

Boeing 727-277F

1

Boeing 737-377

23

Boeing 747-300

3

Boeing 747-400

2

Boeing 767-200

9

Boeing 767-300

4

Bombardier CRJ-200

12

DeHavilland Twin Otter

4

Fokker 50

9

Fokker F27 Friendship

1

Fokker F28 Fellowship

4

Saab 340

16

Fairchild Metro 23

7

Total

134

The airline flew to 88 destinations throughout Australia, the Pacific, and Asia. It was a member of Star Alliance. It marketed itself as an alternative to Trans Australia Airlines and Qantas and fought off new arrival Virgin Blue (a precursor to Virgin Australia).

Singapore Airlines made a bid for the airline but were beaten out by Air New Zealand for slightly more funding.

For a more in-depth look at its rise and fall, we recommend Simple Flying writer Jay's excellent article.

Ansett A320
Ansett Australia A320. Photo: Aero Icarus via Wikpedia

Where did it go wrong?

A large fleet and popular destinations don't paint the image of an airline going bust, so where did the carrier go wrong?

First, we have to comment on its strange fleet makeup. It makes no sense why the carrier had such a mismatch of fleet aircraft, from Saab 340s up to Boeing 747-400s. Had the carrier been in a better financial position, it would have probably bought the A380 and 747-8I like Lufthansa.

This fleet was full of problems, with its Boeing 767 workhorse regularly grounded due to mechanical problems, and older aircraft costing the airline as much as $1.3 million per day to operate.

Additionally, new competition from the likes of low-cost-carrier Virgin Blue was eating away at the airlines' main lucrative routes (like Sydney to Melbourne, which at the time was the most popular route in the world).

Lastly, we can't ignore the sudden dip in demand following the September 11th attacks in the United States in 2001. This saw a major depression in air travel around the world, which damaged the profits of many airlines.

With these three factors hitting the airline around the same time, and its owner Air New Zealand unable to invest anymore to weather the storm, the airline collapsed.

Ansett Australia 737
Ansett Australia 737 Classic Series. Photo: Aero Icarus via Wikipedia

What could they have done to survive?

Now it is easy to make broad statements as to how this airline might have survived these trying times, but if we were to make an armchair assessment we might come up with some ideas.

First of all, Ansett needed to greatly reduce its fleet of aircraft that were no longer viable. This would have meant selling or grounding its problematic Boeing 767 fleet, as well as older regional aircraft. Becoming leaner would be tough, but it would allow them to focus on its more lucrative routes between Sydney and Melbourne.

Additionally, Ansett (and Air New Zealand) should have been open to new partners like a Chinese airline or a Middle Eastern carrier. Perhaps even going back to Singapore Airlines who only a year before made a bid for the airline (this was attempted but was blocked by the New Zealand government as the deal included Air New Zealand. When Ansett was cut away under Air New Zealand bailout conditions, Singapore walked away from the deal).

Alas, the political landscape was very different back in 2001, but if new owners had been available to jump in then the airline might have been able to survive.

What do you think? Do you think Ansett could have survived until today? Let us know in the comments.