When the Fat Man and Rupert bought the company in '79, a cartoon appeared on the Melbourne crewroom wall wondering if the airline would be re-named under the new ownership.
Playing upon Rupert's surname, the cartoonist put a drawing of a 727 with 'Murdair' on its side, a not so subtle dig at what he thought would become of the company. (He had a friend in the trucking industry who had bitter experience of the Fat Man with TNT- and who predicted, with telling accuracy, what would transpire after the honeymoon period was over.)
Seems to me quite a few here agree it was a pretty accurate summation.
Reg might not have been a corporate saint, but whatever his faults, he loved that company and understoood the incredible asset he possessed in his staff.
The people who ran the company post 79 (yes, '79, not '89) might have had any number of good points, but looking after the interests of their staff wasn't high on their list of priorities. Asset stripping, on the other hand, seemed to be very close to #1 on that list.