Sat "Daily Telegraph"
Ansett's running on empty . .By ANDREW PAPADATOS. .09feb02
CORPORATE Australia has shunned Solomon Lew and Lindsay Fox's revived Ansett. If the struggling airline does not quickly establish a loyalty program for travelling executives, Qantas will have locked it out of the lucrative executive travel market.
If it hasn't already.
These are the concerns raised by travel agents and aviation experts following The Daily Telegraph learning Ansett had only 100 business-class ticket bookings for February onwards as of the end of last month.
The paltry figure is likely to be causing unease for Ansett's administrators and its owners-in-waiting, the Tesna consortium of millionaires Solomon Lew and Lindsay Fox.
In return for a little more leg room, better food, maybe even a wider smile, airlines pocket fatter profits.
Big Business is big business.
And snaring a share of this market from Qantas will be crucial to Ansett's future – provided the Tesna deal does not collapse before the administrators hand over the airline.
"Ansett should reinstate the loyalty program for the corporate travellers as quickly as possible," said travel.com.au general manager of leisure Helen Demetriou.
"That would be one of the best things they could do for their business."
Ansett's would-be owners, Tesna, has already revealed that they have signed an agreement for the new Ansett to join the global airline loyalty program Star Alliance, which comprises 14 carriers.
The millionaire pair are in Europe to discuss the loyalty program at the moment.
They have already promised attractive deals for corporate accounts and say many chief executives were upset by the high Qantas fares in the weeks after Ansett crashed.
Both are hoping that the contracts Qantas has signed with corporations will not hold up once there are two large airlines bidding for the business market.
Mr Fox and Mr Lew are expected to offer its corporate travellers valet parking, lounges and all the other extras that are provided with a full-service airline.
It is also expected that the renewed company will reinstate its Golden Wing Club.
All this may not be enough – and is probably too late – according to Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation senior consultant Ian Thomas.
"Most corporates are locked into an agreements with Qantas," Mr Thomas said.
"It moved aggressively after Ansett's collapse and the window of opportunity for Tesna has closed."
Besides, he said, "some of the larger corporate travel agencies maybe unwilling to deal with what is essentially an untried product".
Ansett's administrators remain convinced the Tesna deal will eventually get off the ground.
If they are wrong, the business case for operating a second full-service airline will not diminish.
Enter Richard Branson's Virgin Blue and Chris Corrigan's Lang Corp (Patrick), whose joint proposal to buy some Ansett assets was shunned.
They may take another look at the carrier if the Tesna plan fails.
"We're not in any active discussions with Lang," said Virgin Blue's head of commercial operations David Huttner.
"The previous proposal really wouldn't apply in the present situation.
"(But), if tomorrow we had a call from Lang, we'd talk to them."
During the week Mr Corrigan said Lang was monitoring developments with Ansett and "continued to have an interest in that business in certain circumstances".