Originally Posted by
tartare
I think the author may have their wires slightly crossed Stanwell.
I can find no reference to a TEA in Tasmania.
They may have meant
TEAL (Tasman Empire Airlines - the precursor to Air New Zealand) whose name lived on in the TE flight designators for early Air NZ flights.
Or possibly
TAA (Trans-Australia Airlines).
Don't that either would have the deep pockets to buy such a behemoth though.
Other readers may be able to enlighten...
Pretty certainly they did a quick misreading of Tasman Empire Airlines Ltd, and thought Tasman meant Tasmania, and left off the L. I suppose those were the days of the wool boom, when an order might have seemed negotiable.