Ansett Rescue Plan - From ABC NEWS
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Ansett Rescue Plan - From ABC NEWS
Melbourne businessmen launch Ansett rescue bid
Two Melbourne businessmen have unveiled a $2.5 billion plan to rescue Ansett Mark II.
In their first public comments about the bid, Solomon Lew and Lindsay Fox have revealed a plan to introduce 29 new Airbuses on all major capital city and some leisure routes.
Four thousand staff would be required, with the headquarters based in Melbourne.
MULTIMEDIA
An ambitious plan to resurrect an airline from the ashes of the Ansett collapse has been released in Melbourne. Eleanor Hall reports.
HELP
There will be economy, business and premium classes, as well as a loyalty program.
Mr Fox says he is interested in exploring the involvement of Singapore Airlines, but the bid is not dependent on Singapore, with alternative management plans in place.
Mr Fox says he expects to reach an agreement with Ansett's administrators in the next two weeks.
ANstaff has dismissed plans by Mr Fox and Mr Lew to take over the airline as a public relations stunt.
ANstaff's Michael Jones says his syndicate's proposal is much more advanced than the Fox-Lew bid.
"It's been an interesting exercise in PR because this is a stunt more than anything else," he said.
"It's a bit disappointing that John Anderson has exercised a bit of poor judgement and been dragged into it, because I think behind the scenes he's a little bit more astute as to what's going on and now going out and appearing to support the Fox-Lew syndicate over anyone else's, I think he's been used a little bit."
Redundancies
Ansett's administrator has issued compulsory redundancies to 340 call centre staff at Darlinghurst in Sydney's east.
They are the first jobs to be cut under plans to salvage the airline.
The Ansett workers who have no been paid for five weeks are to receive a two-month redundancy package.
Half of that will be paid immediately, but they will have to line up with creditors for the rest of the money.
Nadine Flood, representing the workers, says there are no plans to fight the decision.
"I think the reaction from staff is still a degree of shock that people, while they thought that a lot of them would lose their jobs, I think a lot of people thought they would have the option of voluntary redundancies like the rest of Ansett staff," she said.
"So for some people it certainly has come as a shock. Some people are angry, some people are upset."
Qantas expansion
In other aviation news, The share price of Qantas has soared on the Australian Stock Exchange the day after announcing plans for a shake-up of its operations in the domestic aviation market.
After being suspended yesterday, trade in Qantas shares restarted late this morning.
And having closed on Wednesday at $3.24, they have been as high as $3.87.
Around midday AEST, they were still up 56 cents to $3.80, a jump of 17 per cent.
Meanwhile, Qantas has now completed a placement of $450 million worth of new shares with institutional investors at $3.05 per share, as part of a funding plan for 17 new aircraft.
In the wake of the Ansett collapse, Qantas is targetting up to 70 per cent of the domestic air travel market.
Taken from ABC News website
Two Melbourne businessmen have unveiled a $2.5 billion plan to rescue Ansett Mark II.
In their first public comments about the bid, Solomon Lew and Lindsay Fox have revealed a plan to introduce 29 new Airbuses on all major capital city and some leisure routes.
Four thousand staff would be required, with the headquarters based in Melbourne.
MULTIMEDIA
An ambitious plan to resurrect an airline from the ashes of the Ansett collapse has been released in Melbourne. Eleanor Hall reports.
HELP
There will be economy, business and premium classes, as well as a loyalty program.
Mr Fox says he is interested in exploring the involvement of Singapore Airlines, but the bid is not dependent on Singapore, with alternative management plans in place.
Mr Fox says he expects to reach an agreement with Ansett's administrators in the next two weeks.
ANstaff has dismissed plans by Mr Fox and Mr Lew to take over the airline as a public relations stunt.
ANstaff's Michael Jones says his syndicate's proposal is much more advanced than the Fox-Lew bid.
"It's been an interesting exercise in PR because this is a stunt more than anything else," he said.
"It's a bit disappointing that John Anderson has exercised a bit of poor judgement and been dragged into it, because I think behind the scenes he's a little bit more astute as to what's going on and now going out and appearing to support the Fox-Lew syndicate over anyone else's, I think he's been used a little bit."
Redundancies
Ansett's administrator has issued compulsory redundancies to 340 call centre staff at Darlinghurst in Sydney's east.
They are the first jobs to be cut under plans to salvage the airline.
The Ansett workers who have no been paid for five weeks are to receive a two-month redundancy package.
Half of that will be paid immediately, but they will have to line up with creditors for the rest of the money.
Nadine Flood, representing the workers, says there are no plans to fight the decision.
"I think the reaction from staff is still a degree of shock that people, while they thought that a lot of them would lose their jobs, I think a lot of people thought they would have the option of voluntary redundancies like the rest of Ansett staff," she said.
"So for some people it certainly has come as a shock. Some people are angry, some people are upset."
Qantas expansion
In other aviation news, The share price of Qantas has soared on the Australian Stock Exchange the day after announcing plans for a shake-up of its operations in the domestic aviation market.
After being suspended yesterday, trade in Qantas shares restarted late this morning.
And having closed on Wednesday at $3.24, they have been as high as $3.87.
Around midday AEST, they were still up 56 cents to $3.80, a jump of 17 per cent.
Meanwhile, Qantas has now completed a placement of $450 million worth of new shares with institutional investors at $3.05 per share, as part of a funding plan for 17 new aircraft.
In the wake of the Ansett collapse, Qantas is targetting up to 70 per cent of the domestic air travel market.
Taken from ABC News website
