Because people were proud to work there. Even towards the end we were proud that we worked for Ansett. Ansett inspired a certain passion within people- both positve and negative. Those Ansett pilots who didn't come back during that year were still passionate about it but in an angry South Sydney sort of way! I think there are a lot of people who work for Qantas who possibly feel the same way but I think that is rapidly changing with the current work climate. Quite possibly the same would have happened to Ansett had it survived.
There is also the nostalgia factor. The bad bits disappear into the background and the good memories stay on.