Alien Role
6th Mar 2007, 00:12
For those bemoaning the lack of competition in the "full service" section of the domestic airline op's (Qantas passengers forced to fly Jet* and Bring back Ansett), I relate a story that may make you weep.
Cast your mind back 5 and a half years to the time Ansett was dumped into administration; you may remember the press conference when the representative of the original administrators, PWC's, became very emotional and walked out on the press.
So why was he so upset? Because he had a buyer !!!
I had heard this whisper before, but had it confirmed when I had dinner with an Ansett F/A about mid 2002. This young lady had been working on the A320 during the interim period prior to "TESNA".
On a flight from PER to MEL she recognised the gentleman from PWC's and in conversation with him, the subject of the press conference came up and he told her why he had been so upset.
PWC's were removed as administrators by court action , based on "conflict of interest".
He confirmed that within 3 days of Ansett being placed in administration, he had a buyer for the whole Ansett operation, regionals and all, with an undertaking to initially keep 10,000 staff employed in a restart of the airline.
WHO WERE THE POTENTIAL BUYERS - EMIRATES.
You may also recall that with the new administrators installed, the whole Ansett bunfight became very political with the "save the jobs" campaign run by the Beazley/ACTU (TWU) camp - there was an election looming afterall.
So one might ask, why were the ACTU so active in the court action that saw PWC removed as administrators?
Could it have been because, part of the acquisition proposal put forward by Emirates, there was one stipulation; Ansett would be a non union workplace !!!
So the ACTU(TWU) roadshow steamrolled along and evolved for a short time into the TESNA(Kelty) debacle.
AND HOW MANY JOBS DID THE ACTU SAVE? FROM WHAT I RECOLLECT minus 16,000 .............
One may well reflect on "what might have been" had Emirates acquired Ansett.
Finance available for fleet upgrade: a highly motivated workforce, happy to have their airline back: an efficient workforce free of the institutionalised work practices of some awards: a continuence of quality cabin service (from what I remember, Ansett had won the IATA cabin service award for international op's, 2 years running):ok: .
Emirates executives have recently been in Australia lobbying politicians.
They wish to double, if not triple their flights to Aus. over the next 5 to 10 years.
So if Emirates had bought Ansett, would Emirates be operating the Singapore to Aus. sectors? Would they operating across the Tasman?
They would no doubt like to link their Australian and USA / South American operations. If they had owned Ansett, would there have been Ansett 777's / A340's flying those routes? Possibly so.
And one might ask, how would Qantas have coped?:sad:
You may well wish for better quality cabin service provided by competition, (and this is not to be construed as an attack on Qantas cabin crew) but without that competition, the poor cabin crew are given a product to dispense that the management determine the public will put up with!
Ahhh, what might have been............:hmm:
Role on.
Cast your mind back 5 and a half years to the time Ansett was dumped into administration; you may remember the press conference when the representative of the original administrators, PWC's, became very emotional and walked out on the press.
So why was he so upset? Because he had a buyer !!!
I had heard this whisper before, but had it confirmed when I had dinner with an Ansett F/A about mid 2002. This young lady had been working on the A320 during the interim period prior to "TESNA".
On a flight from PER to MEL she recognised the gentleman from PWC's and in conversation with him, the subject of the press conference came up and he told her why he had been so upset.
PWC's were removed as administrators by court action , based on "conflict of interest".
He confirmed that within 3 days of Ansett being placed in administration, he had a buyer for the whole Ansett operation, regionals and all, with an undertaking to initially keep 10,000 staff employed in a restart of the airline.
WHO WERE THE POTENTIAL BUYERS - EMIRATES.
You may also recall that with the new administrators installed, the whole Ansett bunfight became very political with the "save the jobs" campaign run by the Beazley/ACTU (TWU) camp - there was an election looming afterall.
So one might ask, why were the ACTU so active in the court action that saw PWC removed as administrators?
Could it have been because, part of the acquisition proposal put forward by Emirates, there was one stipulation; Ansett would be a non union workplace !!!
So the ACTU(TWU) roadshow steamrolled along and evolved for a short time into the TESNA(Kelty) debacle.
AND HOW MANY JOBS DID THE ACTU SAVE? FROM WHAT I RECOLLECT minus 16,000 .............
One may well reflect on "what might have been" had Emirates acquired Ansett.
Finance available for fleet upgrade: a highly motivated workforce, happy to have their airline back: an efficient workforce free of the institutionalised work practices of some awards: a continuence of quality cabin service (from what I remember, Ansett had won the IATA cabin service award for international op's, 2 years running):ok: .
Emirates executives have recently been in Australia lobbying politicians.
They wish to double, if not triple their flights to Aus. over the next 5 to 10 years.
So if Emirates had bought Ansett, would Emirates be operating the Singapore to Aus. sectors? Would they operating across the Tasman?
They would no doubt like to link their Australian and USA / South American operations. If they had owned Ansett, would there have been Ansett 777's / A340's flying those routes? Possibly so.
And one might ask, how would Qantas have coped?:sad:
You may well wish for better quality cabin service provided by competition, (and this is not to be construed as an attack on Qantas cabin crew) but without that competition, the poor cabin crew are given a product to dispense that the management determine the public will put up with!
Ahhh, what might have been............:hmm:
Role on.