Section28- BE
Yes, I forget about that one. You are correct - the company, Flight West Airlines Pty Ltd, was acquired with an AOC and assets.
But the circumstances were very different. The company was not insolvent and was able to pay it's debts.
Frankly, creating Flight West Airlines is part of my life I'd sooner forget.
It's descendant is not a monument to the wonderfully dedicated and professional men and women, pilots, engineer and staff that built the original airline.
An AOC is a piece of paper with no real value. It may be varied or withdrawn at CASA's pleasure.
For Strategic to buy OzJet (comapny and thus AOC) and change it to meet Strategic's purpose, operations, aircraft type and operational staff would be akin to buying a Holden Kingswood and converting it, bit by bit, to a Ford Falcon V8.
There are those who believe, probably quite correctly, that acquiring an existing AOC avoids the gross incompetence and procrastination of CASA's intransigent, bloated and egotistical bureaucracy.
And that definitely is worth something!
