Of course they got away with it. The Bodgie was the Fat Bastards lap dog.
When East-West was glommed by Ansett by stealth we had 3 F100s on the production line at Schipol.
I was in upper middle Management at the stage and was privy to the P & L figures on a fortnightly basis. Travelling well.
AWAS wound up taking the F100s as they were stuck with them in the deal that occurred because the Silver Bodgie (is he still alive? Yes? Oh bugger!) delayed deregulation on the behest of his buddy the Fat Man. We had to be acquired or the inevitable for Ansett which had been cashed stripped by TNT and News by selling off all Reg's owned fleet and released new equipment was the collapse that happened later. Not one bit of damage touched the fat bastard. He had engineered his way out of the financial situation by then.
The sales money was immediately stripped out of the operation and AN was left with the same smell of an oily rag to run on.
Rick Stowe - lovely bloke and as sharp and likeable as BG himself was had to redirect dollars I believe within his mining ventures and performed what he thought was a good and safe sale. The sleazebag who bought us actually owned EWA for under 15 minutes before we were sold down the river. He was invited to the EW Western Australia end of year function for a "presentation". He got it - Self Lubricating Female Body Part of the Year. Not the polite version mentioned either. Much fanfare and total hysteria for everyone but him.
East-West was actually trying to source 737-200s at the time before the alleged deregulation date but the fat prick had AWAS secure or virtually take every one off the market.
When we were swallowed we were inflicted with the 146-300s. The engineers in TMW and around the ports worked very hard and kept ahead of the fleet and they worked well but could not hold block time on many routes. the passengers (and myself and family) actually liked them.
When Ansett got into the facilities at TMW they couldn't believe the sophistication of the maintenance facility and that our yield management system was far superior to theirs.
Bottom line is they had no idea how to run us and the addition of the 727 equipment was testimony to this.
They even tried a 6 across config in the 146. It was as popular as Ebola Virus.
Stationair - The Fat Prick had no intention other than to shut us down - of course after enough time to make excuses had elapsed. biglanchow is on the money there.
hiway - EW were not haemorrhaging cash in fact we were doing fairly well on most longer routes. Some of the traditional routes were a drain to a degree. you are correct though. The '89 problems were the next "hand in the Bodgie's pocket" from the Fat Prick. Engineered to restructure the industry to move the glass mountain that AN finally impacted back a bit. (Is the Bodgie dead yet? No? Double bugger!)
It's amazing what favours you can get when you buy a PM's daughter a Porsche - and God knows what else.
Rant over. Pass me a Voodoo doll.
best all
EWL