The dye was cast quite some years ago.
Tool Time on another thread has given a good historical tablet on what Peter Abeles did to Ansett. In fact on a still day you can still smell him at the top end of Swanston Street, such was his scent-marking.
Essentially the cash cow was milked and the assets run down.
When AirNZ bought the first 50% for way above net asset value the fuse was lit regardless of the "strategic" brilliance of the move and synergies sold to the press and the banks.
Any forensic accounting will show the role of Brierley Investments in what was to follow.
Being locked into Air NZ their survival was premised upon maintaining the value of their AirNZ holdings on the books. Look at BIL's 1999 and 2000 annual report to see what their gearing looked like and how critical it was to maintain book value of their major investments; AirNZ and James Hardie.
Also look at the common directors of the two companies.
Is it then any wonder that BIL's director on the Ansett board was disruptive and a leaking sieve at the time Ansett management was pushing the sale of the NewsCorp 50% directly to SIA.
BIL could not afford to write down their AirNZ holding should SIA get 50% of Ansett for a value vastly less than the AirNZ 50% was picked up for.
The rest I am afraid is hisotry. Oil prices and CASA groundings simply hastened the inevitable.
FWIW