From memory they were part of one of Abeles trips to the Paris airshow where he wandered around and ordered aircraft at will. Ansett was joint launch customer for the Fokker 50, and I think those around would agree it was a case of don't buy the A model of anything. Heaps of teething problems initially - i'm sure a lot of the others will elaborate on them ! Ansett also launched the A320-200 as well, and was a very early operator of the 767-200 and 737-300 as well.