Ansett gone .......but forgotten?
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Ansett gone .......but forgotten?
8 years ago the airline ceased operations in its major form.
Has the industry become any better for the loss of this world class organisation?
While we are in some shed waiting for Tiger, squashed in a Virgin tin can or sneered at up the pointy end of a QF filght do you lament the way things used to be?
Has the industry become any better for the loss of this world class organisation?
While we are in some shed waiting for Tiger, squashed in a Virgin tin can or sneered at up the pointy end of a QF filght do you lament the way things used to be?
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funny this thread should appear... I was watching some of their TV commercials on youtube yesterday.
i miss it to death....
as a passenger...... and as work (over 20 years ago
)
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Ansett will never be forgotten, nor will TAA and East West,
AN did indeed technichally die when the aeroplanes Reg owned where sold off and the 737s and 767s were leased by the the Fat prick and Abeles.
The monies gained from that were stripped from the Company. The rest is history.
TN was is the same leaky boat after years of the Government stripping profits out of the operation and eventually was aquired by QF on Government order to keep it afloat.
East West on the other hand was aquired by stealth by the evil empire as we were a huge and growing threat. Ansett with its lame management had no idea how to run a lean machine and eventually shut us.
But back to the original question, the answer is NO. Ansett will be remembered not for the fat bastard that killed them but will most definitely be remembered for the terrific people that gave it a heart and soul.
Two generations down the track there may be a lack of knowledge in the general public, but the memory will live on down family lines.
Best all
EWL
AN did indeed technichally die when the aeroplanes Reg owned where sold off and the 737s and 767s were leased by the the Fat prick and Abeles.
The monies gained from that were stripped from the Company. The rest is history.
TN was is the same leaky boat after years of the Government stripping profits out of the operation and eventually was aquired by QF on Government order to keep it afloat.
East West on the other hand was aquired by stealth by the evil empire as we were a huge and growing threat. Ansett with its lame management had no idea how to run a lean machine and eventually shut us.
But back to the original question, the answer is NO. Ansett will be remembered not for the fat bastard that killed them but will most definitely be remembered for the terrific people that gave it a heart and soul.
Two generations down the track there may be a lack of knowledge in the general public, but the memory will live on down family lines.
Best all
EWL
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There's a group on facebook with a title...i don't care what you did at ansett.
Which could also read i don't care how great ansett was and stop banging on about the past...
or if it was that good it'd still be around...
Which could also read i don't care how great ansett was and stop banging on about the past...
or if it was that good it'd still be around...
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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, Yep, ansett finnished 20 years ago huh.
Is that because you left then?
The job was better post 89 than before. Much more professional flight ops.
Not so much old school nonsense 'ol boy.
Is that because you left then?
The job was better post 89 than before. Much more professional flight ops.
Not so much old school nonsense 'ol boy.
The job was better post 89 than before. Much more professional flight ops. Not so much old school nonsense 'ol boy.
Whatever are you referring to ? I can't recall any "old school nonsense".
If the tone post-89 was superior to the earlier model, then you enjoyed a very much higher standard than other comments had suggested previously.
I think that most of us were just glad that some of the close shaves did not result in accidents.
Whatever are you referring to ? I can't recall any "old school nonsense".
If the tone post-89 was superior to the earlier model, then you enjoyed a very much higher standard than other comments had suggested previously.
I think that most of us were just glad that some of the close shaves did not result in accidents.
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The job was better post 89 than before. Much more professional flight ops. Not so much old school nonsense 'ol boy.
Much more professional??? My my, what a lot of bollocks....cast your mind to when they were shut down by CASA for their excessive professionalism in maintenance!! Pre 89 Ansett was an airline...POst 89, Ansett was a political show pony, a complete basketcase run on favours for mates and the inherent beliefs that the Ansett Leisure Group plus AWAS and TNT would always be there to bail them out.....how "professionally" wrong they were!!!
Much more professional??? My my, what a lot of bollocks....cast your mind to when they were shut down by CASA for their excessive professionalism in maintenance!! Pre 89 Ansett was an airline...POst 89, Ansett was a political show pony, a complete basketcase run on favours for mates and the inherent beliefs that the Ansett Leisure Group plus AWAS and TNT would always be there to bail them out.....how "professionally" wrong they were!!!
Evertonian
RU/16 Better get used to it mate...any opportunity! 
Bottom line, Ansett was the beneficiary of some dodgy Government intervention & in the end, with a multitude of other factors involved, it was brought down by the same dodgy Government intervention.
As for service standards, well, as Airsupport says, $800 got you a little more polish on the flight, in the airport facilities, and other areas but most people just see the bottom line. As with life, society seems to bend to the lowest common denominator. People used to put on a tie & hat to go out, now, well, just take a look around.
Some companies can move with the times, others cannot, or will not. There was no one in upper management at Ansett capable of reading the times, so it fell by the wayside. Like Qantas has now, Ansett looked like it was starting to head down the path of lowering its services in order to cut costs. Alas, too little, too late...
Bottom line, Ansett was the beneficiary of some dodgy Government intervention & in the end, with a multitude of other factors involved, it was brought down by the same dodgy Government intervention.
As for service standards, well, as Airsupport says, $800 got you a little more polish on the flight, in the airport facilities, and other areas but most people just see the bottom line. As with life, society seems to bend to the lowest common denominator. People used to put on a tie & hat to go out, now, well, just take a look around.
Some companies can move with the times, others cannot, or will not. There was no one in upper management at Ansett capable of reading the times, so it fell by the wayside. Like Qantas has now, Ansett looked like it was starting to head down the path of lowering its services in order to cut costs. Alas, too little, too late...
Who says Ansett has gone? Been to the Sim Centre in Tullamarine lately? Ansett stuff everywhere right down to the Link Trainer. It is actually a good place for "if only" scenarios as an example of what could have been possible if it was run as a business and not as a plaything.
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The job was better post 89 than before. Much more professional flight ops. Not so much old school nonsense 'ol boy
Knowing some of the main players in AN Flt Ops pre and post 1989, (admittedly, I knew them professionally only pre-89), I am having a hard time coming to terms with the comment above. Comparing any one of the post 89 AN Flt Ops leardership with Henry Theunnissen is laughable.
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Compareing pre to post flight ops and nameing people is simply "hero worshiping" which was very common of that pre group and dangerous which inevitably leads to disasters.
As for why Ansett isn't here now...all you have to look at the people who had their hands on the levers at the time when Ansett went down, the government of the time that did nothing after approving the sale and gross medling of trickie-dickie at Qantas.
As for why Ansett isn't here now...all you have to look at the people who had their hands on the levers at the time when Ansett went down, the government of the time that did nothing after approving the sale and gross medling of trickie-dickie at Qantas.
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Richard Kranium, when it comes to Henry T., particularly when you compare him with 99.9% of the management I see gracing the halls of airlines today, hero worship wouldn't be too far from the mark.
For me at least.
For me at least.
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plllllease
AN pre 89 was a tiny flying club that existed in a bubble protected from competition.
Henry was a nice guy but a drovers dog could have managed flite ops back in a regulated system.
rhlmcg, which close shaves you talking about? care to elaborate. I remember some pretty hairy moments pre 89 too when only legends were allowed to fly.
AN pre 89 was a tiny flying club that existed in a bubble protected from competition.
Henry was a nice guy but a drovers dog could have managed flite ops back in a regulated system.
rhlmcg, which close shaves you talking about? care to elaborate. I remember some pretty hairy moments pre 89 too when only legends were allowed to fly.
enough of this 89 stuff here - take it elsewhere.
In response, I remember Ansett with greater fondness than most of my dead family members - and no doubt there would be others like me.
Bring back the $800 fare I say - most people here have staff travel or ID fares anyway (at least it might be of value if the fares were $800!!). Most of the people who are members of that 'I dont care what you did at ansett' group are too young to appreciate what it was, or are disrespecting the experience of anyone who has endured some sort of change in the industry affecting their working conditions or pay.
I wonder if anyone will ever use the Ansett name again. Sure, Pan Am didnt work, nor did Compass - but do you think there could be a market one day to brand an airline Ansett, and succeed?
And no - we are not better off - airlines still struggle to make money or succeed with a loss - yet we are (as said) sitting in a tin shed, being abused by some overworked underpaid flight attendants, flown by disinterested pilots, all with families they never see and working under 20yo HR 'executive' types that just love to get in the way of a good night out on the piss in DRW. Engineers are pretty much in the same boat, and the ground staff have all retired or gone to work in banks having been replaced with the 'revolving door' contractor operation that 'performances' everyone out when they turn 21 or join a union.
Sure, back then, it was expensive to fly, and bloody hard to get a job - but we were paid appropriately, respected, and the job was much much easier (whether youre a pilot, fa, ginger or groundie). There was more 'oops, that was dangerous, better fix it' and far far less of this 'crap we just killed/injured someone' better employ more lawyers and give the HR person who sacked the crew a pay rise'.
My opinion anyway.
In response, I remember Ansett with greater fondness than most of my dead family members - and no doubt there would be others like me.
Bring back the $800 fare I say - most people here have staff travel or ID fares anyway (at least it might be of value if the fares were $800!!). Most of the people who are members of that 'I dont care what you did at ansett' group are too young to appreciate what it was, or are disrespecting the experience of anyone who has endured some sort of change in the industry affecting their working conditions or pay.
I wonder if anyone will ever use the Ansett name again. Sure, Pan Am didnt work, nor did Compass - but do you think there could be a market one day to brand an airline Ansett, and succeed?
And no - we are not better off - airlines still struggle to make money or succeed with a loss - yet we are (as said) sitting in a tin shed, being abused by some overworked underpaid flight attendants, flown by disinterested pilots, all with families they never see and working under 20yo HR 'executive' types that just love to get in the way of a good night out on the piss in DRW. Engineers are pretty much in the same boat, and the ground staff have all retired or gone to work in banks having been replaced with the 'revolving door' contractor operation that 'performances' everyone out when they turn 21 or join a union.
Sure, back then, it was expensive to fly, and bloody hard to get a job - but we were paid appropriately, respected, and the job was much much easier (whether youre a pilot, fa, ginger or groundie). There was more 'oops, that was dangerous, better fix it' and far far less of this 'crap we just killed/injured someone' better employ more lawyers and give the HR person who sacked the crew a pay rise'.
My opinion anyway.
Last edited by ozangel; 14th Sep 2009 at 06:31.