Ansett family fights for air
Sun "The Age" 14/4/02
Earthbound, the Ansett family fights for air
By Melissa Marino
April 14 2002
At Ansett's head office - the distinctive hexagonal edifice on Swanston Street - things are quiet. The building is on the market. Most of the 19 floors are empty. Once, 1500 staff worked here. Now there are just 150.
It has been six weeks since an Ansett flight last took off, on a busy March weekend. There was the Mardi Gras in Sydney, the Grand Prix in Melbourne. The airports were buzzing as Ansett staff worked their last emotion-charged shifts. Tears were shed openly in what ended as a wake of sorts.
In all, about 16,000 people who worked for or were associated with Ansett have been forced to look for new jobs. They include managers, public relations and human relations staff, ground crew, check-in staff, flight attendants, pilots, engineers, maintenance workers, sales teams, reservations staff, customer service people, finance, accounting and marketing staff, caterers, information technology specialists and clerical workers.
"There was just about every job role you could name," said Heather Jeffery, who was head of public relations at Ansett, but now works week-by-week on request from the administrators.
She is part of a skeleton crew of people employed to close the business. They are in the finance department, the IT section and there is another group of people selling Ansett's assets - including about 50 aircraft, leases at airport terminals and prime city real estate. There is just one person left on the once hectic switchboard as the floors are closed down and packed up, one by one.
"It's quite an unusual experience," said Ms Jeffery, who is helping ensure the mountains of historical documents, trophies, photographs, aircraft models and memorabilia from head office are properly identified and packed for the Ansett Museum in Hamilton.
"It could feel quite sad, but there is a lot to do in winding the business down in an organised way. There is still a lot of work to be done," she said.
The Ansett collapse saw more than 1600 flight attendants and 760 pilots lose their jobs.
Some have been absorbed by the industry, with Qantas hiring about 1000 former Ansett staff from priority there is going to need to be a lot of retraining."
Ms Jeffery said while most people wanted to remain in the industry, their options were limited.
"I think you'll find Ansett staff will pop up all over the country in jobs everywhere but they will always be hoping to get back into an airline," she said.
Flight Attendants Association of Australia divisional secretary Darryl Watkins estimates that about 200 former Ansett flight attendants have found jobs with other airlines including Qantas, Virgin Blue, Impulse and Eastern airlines.
Despite the tough market, he said the 1300 attendants wanting to remain within the airline industry should not give up hope.
Qantas would be recruiting shortly and chief executive officer Geoff Dixon had indicated a commitment to employ former Ansett staff, he said. The union would also continue to pursue re-employment for Ansett staff with airlines.
"I would say be positive. There will be growth but it can't just happen overnight," he said.
Mr Watkins said he did not know how prospective employers would decide how to hire certain Ansett staff and not others. "I suppose their management would best deal with that," he said.
Reflecting on what was once their livelihood, many former Ansett staff who worked that last day in March share the same sentiments.
They don't know who to blame, but at the same time, blame no one. They had faith their airline would be saved. They all expected to work there until retirement and speak openly of their "love" for their jobs. They stayed on until the end because for them, the airline was like a family.
Ms Jeffery said the company's culture stretched back to the airline's early days.
"It was a family company to start with," she said. "A lot of people would have seen examples of generations working in the company."
Ms Jeffery said the networks had continued even though the company did not exist any more.
Websites have been set up to help Ansett employees get jobs and for prospective employers to advertise specifically for former Ansett staff.
Jobs advertised have ranged from specialist aviation roles to wine consultancy. The websites have been accessed by employees from the most junior to the "very senior".
E-mail is also being used by employees to keep in touch. Barbecues have been organised and other social events take place.
"There's been a lot of catching up . . . people are keeping together as much for moral support as to see how one another is going," she said.