Past Government assistance.
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Past Government assistance.
In the 90’s did the Government assist QF with the float to make it attractive?
Ansett folded in part due to the Government (Mr. Anderson)blocking Singapore’s assistance. This saved VB.
So you all been helped in the past.
Ansett folded in part due to the Government (Mr. Anderson)blocking Singapore’s assistance. This saved VB.
So you all been helped in the past.
Ansett folded in part due to the Government (Mr. Anderson)blocking Singapore’s assistance.
It was also owned by the government then.. not a private enterprise. That's a pretty significant and crucial point, wouldn't you say?
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"Just to clarify, which government and what assistance are you referring to?"
Rgds
S28- BE
NZ used their veto (acquired from when they purchased the first 50% from TNT) so they can fully own Ansett, despite fully knowing they had a "crap" balance sheet to fix AN, purely due to Selwyn 'Borghetti' Cushing's ego.
It was at this point when the start of the end for Ansett began, with then-CEO Eddington resigning from Ansett shortly after to head BA, and "Borghetti-Cushing" putting in his hapless sidekick Gary Toomey as CEO of the combined identity.
https://australianaviation.com.au/20...sett-collapse/
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Yes QF was Government owned. Like CBA, TELSTRA etc.
The Labor Government forgave QF debt before it was privatised. I believe you could call this assistance.
A new airline if you like with no debt. Good deal wouldn’t you agree?
The Labor Government forgave QF debt before it was privatised. I believe you could call this assistance.
A new airline if you like with no debt. Good deal wouldn’t you agree?
This article is worth a read
The Air New Zealand crash - sharechat.co.nz
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DANV compare and contrast your article with this;
News Weekly, September 22, 2001
The sudden collapse of Ansett Airlines has been followed by the inevitable recriminations against Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, the NZ Government, and anyone else who had a hand in the company's fall.
The real blame lies closer to home: with successive Australian governments which have approved foreign takeovers of companies like Ansett; and which - in pursuit of competition policy - permitted new low-cost airlines to "pick the eyes" out of the most profitable capital city routes, leaving older airlines to provide services on uneconomic routes, particularly in rural and regional areas.
The Ansett fiasco highlights the danger of allowing foreign ownership of key national assets - a consequence of the virtual abandonment of controls on foreign ownership, first by the Hawke and Keating Labor Governments, and now by the Coalition.
An inevitable consequences of the globalised economy - so loudly trumpeted by the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, and his Labor counterpart, Simon Crean - is that decisions affecting Australia, its industries, economy and employment, are increasingly being made in the boardrooms of foreign corporations - in Tokyo, New York, London and Auckland.
The decision of Air New Zealand to walk away from Ansett could never have happened if Ansett had remained an Australian company.
A very similar scenario could well have arisen recently with Mitsubishi Motors, whose Adelaide operations were only kept open after John Howard went cap-in-hand to the Japanese parent company in Tokyo, to prevent the plants' closure.
For Ansett, an airline which has existed since 1936, when Reg Ansett flew a single-engined, six-seater Fokker Universal from Hamilton to Melbourne, the collapse has been both sudden and traumatic.
With some 16,000 employees around Australia and overseas, Ansett carries around 40 per cent of Australia's air travellers, and provides vital services to many rural and regional areas.
The collapse of the company has undoubtedly been influenced by bad management decisions years ago in relation to Ansett's fleet of aircraft, and the changes of ownership which arose in the 1980s, when Ansett fell under the control of News Limited and TNT.
But what is obvious in hindsight was not apparent at the time.
In fact, Ansett won the coveted National Travel Industry Award for Best Airline every year from 1994 to 1997, when it had already established a close partnership with Air New Zealand, providing it with access to the much larger Australian business and tourist markets.
Air New Zealand, a government airline privatised in 1989, gained the Howard Government's approval to buy a 50 per cent share in Ansett in 1997. In June last year, Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board approved Air New Zealand's full takeover of Ansett.
Ansett was adversely affected by the Asian economic downturn in 1997, suspending services to Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.
More recently, it haemorrhaged due to the introduction of two low-cost "no frills" airlines, Impulse and Virgin Blue, on the highly profitable capital city routes around Australia.
Impulse, launched in April 2000, did not survive, and was sold to Qantas in May this year.
(Qantas was not immune to these problems. Its Australian operations have been adversely affected by the low-cost competition, and the company which operated Qantas' New Zealand franchise went into receivership in April.)
Ansett's troubles attracted major attention earlier this year when its fleet of ageing Boeing 737s was grounded, pending checks on the company's maintenance records. This forced Ansett to announce plans for a complete refurbishment of its fleet.
The immediate cause of Ansett's collapse was the decision of the New Zealand Government not to permit Singapore Airlines, which owns 25 per cent of Air New Zealand, to inject cash into Air New Zealand (and Ansett) by increasing its shareholding up to 49 per cent, despite the unanimous endorsement of the plan by the Air New Zealand board last month.
Singapore Airlines, fully owned by the Singapore Government, and with a net profit for the year to March 31 of more than $1.5 billion, may well be the ultimate beneficiary of Ansett's demise.
A Government whose Acting Prime Minister, John Anderson, has ruled out any direct intervention to avert the Ansett collapse is unlikely to think in terms of ways of averting similar disasters in future.
If Australia is to have economic sovereignty, it must act to rebuild Australian ownership of strategic companies like Ansett.
A way forward would be for the Australian Government to follow Singapore's example, and set up a fund which can buy into key national enterprises, such as Ansett and Qantas.
The capital base for such a fund could come from the compulsory superannuation contributions currently paid by Australia's nine million employees, billions of which currently end up off-shore, in foreign investments.
COVER STORY: Canberra to blame for Ansett's demise
by Peter WestmoreNews Weekly, September 22, 2001
The sudden collapse of Ansett Airlines has been followed by the inevitable recriminations against Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, the NZ Government, and anyone else who had a hand in the company's fall.
The real blame lies closer to home: with successive Australian governments which have approved foreign takeovers of companies like Ansett; and which - in pursuit of competition policy - permitted new low-cost airlines to "pick the eyes" out of the most profitable capital city routes, leaving older airlines to provide services on uneconomic routes, particularly in rural and regional areas.
The Ansett fiasco highlights the danger of allowing foreign ownership of key national assets - a consequence of the virtual abandonment of controls on foreign ownership, first by the Hawke and Keating Labor Governments, and now by the Coalition.
An inevitable consequences of the globalised economy - so loudly trumpeted by the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, and his Labor counterpart, Simon Crean - is that decisions affecting Australia, its industries, economy and employment, are increasingly being made in the boardrooms of foreign corporations - in Tokyo, New York, London and Auckland.
The decision of Air New Zealand to walk away from Ansett could never have happened if Ansett had remained an Australian company.
A very similar scenario could well have arisen recently with Mitsubishi Motors, whose Adelaide operations were only kept open after John Howard went cap-in-hand to the Japanese parent company in Tokyo, to prevent the plants' closure.
For Ansett, an airline which has existed since 1936, when Reg Ansett flew a single-engined, six-seater Fokker Universal from Hamilton to Melbourne, the collapse has been both sudden and traumatic.
With some 16,000 employees around Australia and overseas, Ansett carries around 40 per cent of Australia's air travellers, and provides vital services to many rural and regional areas.
The collapse of the company has undoubtedly been influenced by bad management decisions years ago in relation to Ansett's fleet of aircraft, and the changes of ownership which arose in the 1980s, when Ansett fell under the control of News Limited and TNT.
But what is obvious in hindsight was not apparent at the time.
In fact, Ansett won the coveted National Travel Industry Award for Best Airline every year from 1994 to 1997, when it had already established a close partnership with Air New Zealand, providing it with access to the much larger Australian business and tourist markets.
Air New Zealand, a government airline privatised in 1989, gained the Howard Government's approval to buy a 50 per cent share in Ansett in 1997. In June last year, Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board approved Air New Zealand's full takeover of Ansett.
Ansett was adversely affected by the Asian economic downturn in 1997, suspending services to Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.
More recently, it haemorrhaged due to the introduction of two low-cost "no frills" airlines, Impulse and Virgin Blue, on the highly profitable capital city routes around Australia.
Impulse, launched in April 2000, did not survive, and was sold to Qantas in May this year.
(Qantas was not immune to these problems. Its Australian operations have been adversely affected by the low-cost competition, and the company which operated Qantas' New Zealand franchise went into receivership in April.)
Ansett's troubles attracted major attention earlier this year when its fleet of ageing Boeing 737s was grounded, pending checks on the company's maintenance records. This forced Ansett to announce plans for a complete refurbishment of its fleet.
The immediate cause of Ansett's collapse was the decision of the New Zealand Government not to permit Singapore Airlines, which owns 25 per cent of Air New Zealand, to inject cash into Air New Zealand (and Ansett) by increasing its shareholding up to 49 per cent, despite the unanimous endorsement of the plan by the Air New Zealand board last month.
Singapore Airlines, fully owned by the Singapore Government, and with a net profit for the year to March 31 of more than $1.5 billion, may well be the ultimate beneficiary of Ansett's demise.
A Government whose Acting Prime Minister, John Anderson, has ruled out any direct intervention to avert the Ansett collapse is unlikely to think in terms of ways of averting similar disasters in future.
If Australia is to have economic sovereignty, it must act to rebuild Australian ownership of strategic companies like Ansett.
A way forward would be for the Australian Government to follow Singapore's example, and set up a fund which can buy into key national enterprises, such as Ansett and Qantas.
The capital base for such a fund could come from the compulsory superannuation contributions currently paid by Australia's nine million employees, billions of which currently end up off-shore, in foreign investments.
- Peter Westmore is President of the National Civic Council
The posted link in Post #7, just confirms a lot of people's suspicions.
It was "Borghetti-Cushing's" decision to veto SIA from buying 50% of Ansett the first time around that began the end of Ansett.
The following article in post #8 I believe is where the 'unconfirmed' rumours whether Canberra and/or QF had involvement in lobbying the NZ government to not lift the foreign ownership cap in Air NZ to 49% came from.
It was "Borghetti-Cushing's" decision to veto SIA from buying 50% of Ansett the first time around that began the end of Ansett.
The following article in post #8 I believe is where the 'unconfirmed' rumours whether Canberra and/or QF had involvement in lobbying the NZ government to not lift the foreign ownership cap in Air NZ to 49% came from.
Yes QF was Government owned. Like CBA, TELSTRA etc.
The Labor Government forgave QF debt before it was privatised. I believe you could call this assistance.
A new airline if you like with no debt. Good deal wouldn’t you agree?
The Labor Government forgave QF debt before it was privatised. I believe you could call this assistance.
A new airline if you like with no debt. Good deal wouldn’t you agree?
the Qantas float proceeded in 1995. The public share offer took place in June and July of that year, with the government receiving A$1.45 billion in proceeds
John please , that doesn't fit the message or the hashtags. Don't start getting factual. ####
And it most assuredly was not a new airline with no debt. The airline carried a total of about $1.3 billion in debt at the time of the sale. That debt had to be refinanced prior to the sale to address change of ownership covenants on much of it. That refinancing required that Qantas have an international credit rating - prior to the sale it had simply relied on government guarantees.
That was another reason for the way the sale was managed in two tranches with a delay between the initial trade sale and the subsequent public float.
The notion being peddled by one of the finance writers at one of the national newspapers that Qantas was given a leg up of some description during the sale process - 'a $1.35bn cash injection from Canberra' - is just risible nonsense.
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Fair enough.
However as you are so knowledgeable what was their total asset position?
Also I’m sure they acquired Australian airlines on favourable terms, know anything about that?
As for privatisation I’m sure they fattened the cow before the float. Imagine if the mum and dad shareholders lost money.
However as you are so knowledgeable what was their total asset position?
Also I’m sure they acquired Australian airlines on favourable terms, know anything about that?
As for privatisation I’m sure they fattened the cow before the float. Imagine if the mum and dad shareholders lost money.
Fair enough.
However as you are so knowledgeable what was their total asset position?
Also I’m sure they acquired Australian airlines on favourable terms, know anything about that?
As for privatisation I’m sure they fattened the cow before the float. Imagine if the mum and dad shareholders lost money.
However as you are so knowledgeable what was their total asset position?
Also I’m sure they acquired Australian airlines on favourable terms, know anything about that?
As for privatisation I’m sure they fattened the cow before the float. Imagine if the mum and dad shareholders lost money.
As to Australia Airlines, they were acquired by Qantas for $400 million back in September 1992.
markontop, your recollection of the events surrounding AN seems to be different to mine, & many others.
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Oh Dear-
And here 'we' are/arrive, Now- in 'the' Hair-Splitting vector- of History.
'DanV2'- per-chance???, 'may' 'Lookleft'- have, been referring too the Time 'Preceding', your Accurate Account of history at Ground Zero/Melt-Down (with reference, the AA article/historical piece, quoted), and therefore 'the ultimate Execution- of the ANZ's preemptive Clause/Right.............
'It', 'the 'Gig'/AN- preceded/went way longer/prior/back, with regard- too, the time of which 'you' speak/quote.
e.g. Mr Dixon/& Toomey/ and others were fighting for the QF job (Borgetti-Borgetti-Boggetti/ Bueller- Bueller- Bueller....???, anyone!!!!), back then/when Mr Strong was 'moving-on'.............
And YES- 'That' is WHAT Ultimately happened/transpired!!!!, execution of the preemptive right/clause- GOTYA.
Not- the most 'Humane/Viable' option, indeed the 'Last' option floated/pushed from 'that' time - but, 'funny' stuff happens in 'times' like these...........
Mr Lookleft- is Not 'Known' to me- but 'reckon', with what has been posted here since, there are enough folk here- to lay 'It' out...............
Rgds- Stay Safe & Well,
Look out for Each-Other/& All.
S28- BE
And here 'we' are/arrive, Now- in 'the' Hair-Splitting vector- of History.
'DanV2'- per-chance???, 'may' 'Lookleft'- have, been referring too the Time 'Preceding', your Accurate Account of history at Ground Zero/Melt-Down (with reference, the AA article/historical piece, quoted), and therefore 'the ultimate Execution- of the ANZ's preemptive Clause/Right.............
'It', 'the 'Gig'/AN- preceded/went way longer/prior/back, with regard- too, the time of which 'you' speak/quote.
e.g. Mr Dixon/& Toomey/ and others were fighting for the QF job (Borgetti-Borgetti-Boggetti/ Bueller- Bueller- Bueller....???, anyone!!!!), back then/when Mr Strong was 'moving-on'.............
And YES- 'That' is WHAT Ultimately happened/transpired!!!!, execution of the preemptive right/clause- GOTYA.
Not- the most 'Humane/Viable' option, indeed the 'Last' option floated/pushed from 'that' time - but, 'funny' stuff happens in 'times' like these...........
Mr Lookleft- is Not 'Known' to me- but 'reckon', with what has been posted here since, there are enough folk here- to lay 'It' out...............
Rgds- Stay Safe & Well,
Look out for Each-Other/& All.
S28- BE
Qantas had an equity of $2 billion in 1993, unlike VAH which only has $619 million (FY19).
Qantas 1993 report
Qantas 1993 report
As at 31 December last year, VAH was in negative equity territory to the tune of $1.6 billion. How any exec team or board could in good conscious countenance adding $2.2 billion in debt and liabilities in just six months to take the net worth of the company underwater to that extent is anyone's guess.