Nike, Tape it Shut has got the basic facts correct. The point being that ANZ needed some thing to replace the F27, aircraft and crews, without any disruption to the domestic routes. If they had had no backup, in the form of Eagle and Air Nelson, do you think ALPA would have let them lay off all the F27 crews without considerable industrial action???. This was the first time that ANZ had ever laid off any aircrew, and it created quite a shock for many people. To achieve this ANZ had to get in behind Air Nelson an Eagle Airways, who at this time really were third level, and get them up to an acceptable alternative to the Friendship fleet that they were to replace. If ANZ did not have the necessity to replace the Friendships, and did not have the requirement to invest much finance and expertise into Air Nelson and Eagle Air who knows what the state of play would be now, the two small third level airlines may well have gone way of their predecessors in the third level airline world in NZ.
Prospector