As most of us would remember, in late 1979 a DC10 aircraft operated by Air New Zealand impacted the lower slopes of Mt Erebus and gouged a crater, 4 metres deep and 600 metres long into the snow and ice. 257 souls perished in an instant. Now - 22 years later at approx. 2 AM eastern time last Fri. the 14th of September the Air New Zealand organization suffered yet another tragic accident (although I use the word accident advisedly). With the stroke of a pen 16,000 innocent persons had their lives changed forever. Ansett Airlines lay smoldering on the upper slopes of a mountain of greed and mismanagement. Perhaps greed is the wrong word because it implies an ability and a will, both of which the fools on the Air NZ do not posses – lets say stupidity and mismanagement.
It is a matter of public record that in 1979 the corporate culture of Air N.Z. committed huge resources to shift the blame for those 257 deaths onto the Aircrew through a process that included discrediting a royal commissioner, discrediting the crews initial training and those who conducted it, and astonishingly even breaking into of one crew member’s home in a vain attempt to gather discrediting personal evidence. MAKE NO MISTAKE!! This process is happening again. The corporate culture of 1979 is alive and well at Air New Zealand in 2001. The Air New Zealand board will use every resource at its disposal to shift the blame of this organizational accident onto the Australian government, the New Zealand government, Ansett middle management, Saudi oil interests, the Australian dollar, and quite possibly the hard working Ansett staff. This, from the people who after buying 50% of Ansett allowed News Corp. sole access to the management of the company and who didn’t even bother to carry out ‘due diligence’ for the purchase of the remaining 50% until AFTER they had paid News Corp. the inflated price.
I may receive some criticism for comparing the loss of lives with the loss of jobs, and of course this comparison should not be done. What I am suggesting is the parallels that can be drawn in the “corporate culture” that inextricably links the 2 events. I fear for the innocent workers at the coalface in New Zealand. Ample evidence is emerging that they may face a similar fate in the not to distant future. This further failure, I feel, is necessary for the industry. We do not need such a cowboy organization in our ranks… it can only eventually lead to more than “organizational” accidents. I refer here, of course to the leaders of Air NZ - the board. While I agree that the “cutting free” of Ansett by the Air New Zealand organization should be countered by a cutting of the anchor chain that holds their islands socially, and economically, to Australia's shirt tales, and stops them from floating into oblivion, please focus your rage on the true culprits. Culprits who, while America was being attacked live on television, attacked the aviation industry in this country by stealth before retreating to their corporate lair across the Tasman.
We have already witnessed on the Business Sunday programme in Australia (23/09/01)the most appalling form of buck passing from the gentleman in New Zealand who gives Farmers a bad name. This fool, who has been purported to be a business leader and who is apparently a Queens Counsel, would not even know what to do with a pair of Velcro gloves in his sad country.
While at Uni. in London last year it was suggested to my class by persons of high standing in the aviation industry that the future of our industry is an eventual structure comprising of 3 or 4 major organisations only. This restructuring of the industry was suggested as taking 10 - 15 years during which time smaller, less profitable, airlines would be forced out financially and the larger airlines would indulge in mega mergers. So far I have not seen any evidence to refute this concept and the events in recent weeks, around the world, simply make me think that this may indeed be the road that will be travelled - but in a much shorter time frame.
Seems our industry and our jobs may be very different animals in the not too distant future - I'm suggesting to my son he gets a trade under his belt before playing with aeroplanes!!
