Airline Profile- Ansett WA

Ron Buckey, general manager of the airline that has been responsible for opening up Australia’s largest state to air travel, holds great expectations that Ansett WA, like its parent company, could soon commence regular scheduled services to ports in South East Asia.

Ansett Australia has been granted services to Indonesia in a draft determination by the International Air Services Commission, allowing for capacity equivalent to daily 767 services to be taken up. In addition the company may take up available capacity to Indonesia utilising once weekly BAe146 services from Broome.

For Ansett WA (MV) this will be a departure from the resource industry based traffic which the airline has traditionally uplifted. The allocation of international rights from the northwest of Western Australia is, though, a realisation of a desire to increase tourism traffic throughout the airline’s network in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and north Queensland.

Although actively promoting the tourism opportunities in the state, particularly in the northwest, Ansett WA and the Tourism Commission of WA both recognise the lack of infrastructure to support a burgeoning increase in inbound tourists. Ports from which Ansett WA would like to commence international services, such as Broome, would require an increase in accommodation facilities and tourist support organisations. Quarantine, immigration and customs facilities would also need to be established.

As a result of the airline’s drive to build on the steady increase of tourism to the region over the last seven years, packages to Broome via Ansett Australia and Ansett WA have allowed some hotel infrastructure to be built up, with the town now offering around 1600 beds including an international class resort at Cable Beach. The area also boasts some of the finest game fishing in Australian waters but the tourism industry still must address the increasing numbers of tourists which are discovering Broome, and those which will be brought to the region in greater numbers by Ansett’s new international services.

Exmouth, similarly, has some obvious potential in tourism development, as does Kununurra with its proximity to the hinterland attraction of the Bungle Bungle Ranges, but both are again thwarted by the lack of infrastructure.

However, despite the lack of accommodation in Kununurra, Ansett WA has to some extent been able to sidestep the shortfalls by offering day trips from Broome on a thrice weekly basis. Comprising a discount airfare and a tour of the nearby Ranges, the packages have proven to be very popular. That the 160 beds are usually heavily booked by coach operators does limit Ansett WA’s ability to promote such attractions as the world renowned Bungle Bungles to what is potentially a huge fly-in market.

Ansett WA is keen to see the further development of hotel and tourism infrastructure. The lack of beds is now even more poignant given the pending debut of international links with South East Asia, and beyond.

“The region has real potential for the European traveller, and we believe once we get some access into the Kimberley region from international ports in Indonesia and Singapore, we will see the whole region, and Broome in particular, become an- other Cairns, though perhaps not of the same magnitude,” Ron Buckey says optimistically of the tourism potential of the area. Buckey has hopes that Broome will eventually become a hub for the region, similar to Cairns’ growing importance as an international port.

“The expat market alone in Indonesia is some 600,000. We would be happy with one per cent of this market. “Expats must leave Indonesia once a year to be able to renew their visa, and this in its own right presents MV with a market potential sufficient to warrant the scheduling of more frequent services than the weekly allocation already allowed.

Weekly flights, if established, would be operated by a BAe 146-200 aircraft, offering 74 seats per sector. The service, in conjunction with advertising and promotions campaigns, would allow business to build up steadily to a point where additional services could be applied. Frequency of service on the Indonesia route is preferred over an increase in aircraft capacity.

The Western Australia carrier has been successful already in creating a domestic tourist market with BAe 146 services linking Perth, Alice Springs and Cairns. This strategy has paid dividends with good load factors on the route and a notable increase in Japanese tourists.

While only 15% of the airline’s total uplift is tourist traffic, if its corporate objectives are fulfilled this minority uptake will increase to an anticipated 30% over a five year period.

Rescheduling

A hasty upturn in tourist traffic would require a major reshuffle of the airline’s scheduling programmes, which have traditionally been based on the requirements of the vast resource industries.

The industries, involved with mining and exploration, have placed time constraints on the airline’s operations as a result of the nature of the workface. Ansett WA’s timetable has the ability to be able to efficiently move crews and personnel to and from resource sites throughout Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Scheduling is an intricate operation which for offshore installations aims to provide connections between helicopter services from the rig to the aircraft of ten to twenty minutes.

Aircraft resources are stretched to the limits at periods of peak demand such as site crew changeovers which require the simultaneous movement of over 500 mining personnel each fortnight. Since the shift changes tend to coincide throughout the industry, the vast majority of the fleet’s six F28s and six BAe146s are utilised.

Ansett WA’s annual passenger uplift is around half a million pax, with the bulk of travellers being very frequent ‘business’ passengers from companies such as, Woodside Petroleum, CRA, BHP, Shell Australia and Western Mining Corp.

Although the clientele has not changed much in make up since the airline commenced operations in 1934, according to Ron Buckey “The resource industry is very much heading to a fly in, fly out situation. . . as future mines develop we believe they will be looking very closely at continuing that type of operation”. For instance, this would see the workforce of remote northwest mines mostly living in such centres as Perth and commuting to their place of work. That mines often have a limited life of 20 years, as is the case with Argyle, (many have as little as three or four years) the feasibility of establishing community infrastructure on this short term basis must be addressed. Mining corporations, though not opposed to state government philosophies of creating stable communities, are tending to move towards fly in fly out operations as a means of economic viability. There are obvious commercial advantages for Ansett WA, but it does place further limitations on the current fleet of aircraft.

The airline always looks forward to periods of increased activity in exploration and development of sites to boost its overall performance. It has enjoyed good growth during the construction phases of developments which create an additional market of up to 300 personnel per site. The current construction of an offshore installation by NRA off Karratha will eventually accommodate a crew of 150, though during construction the number of personnel requiring air transport at changeover is nearly 700.

However, with no new major developments planned for after mid 1993, Ánsett WA will have no alternative other than to consider tourism opportunities to top up its financial viability, which to date has been based on continuing activity in the resource industries.

Serving the Communities

That Ansett WA has opened up communities in the state is not an understatement, and many of the townships served are still dependent upon regular air services for the delivery of produce and equipment. The maintaining of frequent air servicesto remote locations is considered a vital part of the airline’s operational philosophy.

“There is an unofficial understanding with the government that we will provide them (the destinations), where possible, with a daily service, subject to traffic demands. We have tried to stay with that philosophy”, says Ron Buckey.

Ansett WA, unlike smaller independent regional carriers, is in the fortunate position to be able to have some of its less profitable routes cross subsidised by some of the more lucrative routes within its own network.

Whilst the industries are generally satisfied with the fare structures, which are approved by the State Government, there is increasing pressure from the communities for discount fares. The airline has introduced a number of incentive and off peak fares which it has made available on its flights during the middle of the day or overnight. ‘Rockbottom’ and weekend packages have proven popular both with the Perth community and those in the more isolated regions.

One successful innovation for the airline has been the utilisation of the Ansett Air Freight’s 727 night freighter service to provide some passenger capacity on overnight services. These flights are aimed at attracting some of the bus travellers, and fares are set at levels which are highly competitive with those of road transport. Despite the ungodly hours of the overnight operations, load factors have been consistently high and have provided good top up revenue to MV. Market segments such as backpackers have been attracted to the service.

Ansett WA is currently profitable, but as Ron Buckey admits, there have been some nervous moments during times of substantial shortfalls. Traditionally the shortfall occurs between January and April when traffic disappears from the Kimberley region in the wet season. During this time the carrieris dependent upon offshore activities to maintain profitability.

It is the reliance on the resource industries to make the airline profitable that causes Ron Buckey to consider the effects of competition in what has historically been MV’s territory. “That’s the problem with competition: there isn’t sufficient traffic for two operators here because, in my opinion, each would suffer substantial losses. ” TAA won the right to establish competitive routes many years ago, but withdrew after it incurred major losses on the operation. Similarly the ‘old’ Eastwest faced major losses in WA and was unable to sell its operations after the TNT/News takeover. In 1991 the Western Australia Government announced that new carriers were free to operate within the state, but given Ansett WA’s stronghold and competitive nature, it is unlikely that any newcomers would survive in the long term.

High Times and High Temperatures

When the state of Victoria can be fitted into a area between Broome and Derby, the scale of Ansett WA’s operations is perhaps more clearly appreciated.

Given the distances covered and the frequency of services provided over the 19 port network, MV’s aircraft are among the highest utilised in the commercial aviation industry. The airline holds the record for flight hours of the Fokker F27, as well as being the first southern hemisphere operator of the BAe146, and was the first operator of the type to accumulate 20,000 hours on a single aircraft. VH-JJP and JJQ were the startup 146 aircraft when delivered in 1985, and each have steadily accumulated an average 3900 hours annually. Utilisation for the otherstaple of the fleet, the F28 series, is 3400 hours for the two-4000s and 3200 hours on the four-1000 series aircraft.

As an example of the utilisation programme for a single aircraft, a Saturday flight departs Perth at 0030 taking in Derby, Kununurra, Darwin, Gove, Cairns, and Darwin before returning to Perth at 2130 the same day. The round trip is completed with a maximum 30 minute turnaround at any port with the aircraft rarely requiring anything more than catering and refuelling along the route.

The average stage length over the network is 1. 25 hours for the Fokker, and 1. 5 for the-146, with the shortest sector being Broome to Derby at 30 minutes, and the longest 4. 25 hours Darwin to Perth.

When ordered in 1968, the Fokker F28 was the only regional jet airliner available on the market which was suited to the then MacRobertson Miller’s operations. It was also able to utilise existing runways without major airport developments, which neither the federal nor State Governments were in a position to provide at that time. The choice of the Fokker has proven to be the correct one. “The F28 has been a very valuable workhorse here in WA; we can’t put enough emphasis on what it has done to open up the regions,” says Buckey.

Now with an average Total Time of 55,000 hours each, the F28s are slowly moving aside as the larger payload BAe 146s take over on the major routes. The F28s were suitable on the multiple stop routes which used to be popular in the earlier days of operations. The -146s with their increased payload, better field performance and greater range have improved the airline’s ability to offer more popular nonstop services on its trunk routes such as the Kimberleys to Perth. The newer aircraft is better suited to the region’s shorter runways, though even it has difficulty in the frequent 42 degree temperatures at Kununurra.

The conditions in Western Australia, and especially in the northwest regions, are not favourable for the Fokker’s field performance characteristics, which as a result of payload restrictions from short airstrips on a 40 degree day, would invariably have to set down on longer routes to take on more fuel. The Broome to Perth nonstop sector when operated by F28s was dubbed the ‘one stop nonstop’ as fuel stops in Newman became a frequent occurrence due to the hot conditions.

All the aircraft are based and maintained in Perth with two constantly away in the Northern Territory region. Each aircraft is cycled through Perth once a week for line maintenance while phase checks are completed overnight. Since the closure of Ansett WA’s overhaul facility in Perth as part of Ansett’s internal rationalisation of facilities, the heavy maintenance is performed at Brisbane using technicians and engineers relocated from the closed Eastwest base at Tamworth. Sub-bases have also been established in Darwin and Alice Springs for away from base heavy maintenance requirements, while a major base exists in Cairns. Reliability of both the Fokker and the BAe has been exemplary with very few out of port technical difficulties occurring despite the climatic conditions in which the aircraft operate.

As good as the F28 has been in Ansett WA service, the type will soon be subject to ICAO chapter III noise requirements and consideration is being given to a replacement type of similar capacity. A preferred solution would be to operate a one type fleet consisting of BAe 146s of -200 and -300 variants, allowing a complete rationalisation of maintenance and support equipment and spares.

A working committee has been established to consider fleet requirements in view of the airline’s expected move to international operations and increasing the drive towards tourism traffic. It must also continue servicing the resource industries which have made it profitable over its 59 year history and remain, for the moment at least, subjected to the perpetuation of the non-renewable resources in its vast territory.

Ansett WA is driving to find a renewable resource in tourism, and the irony may be, that it could just be a gold mine.

Historical Note. . .

Ansett’s interest in MMA arose from its initial purchase of shares in the early 60s, and Reginald Miles Ansett’s admission to the board of directors. In 1963, Horrie Miller who was then 70 years old and having little day to day administrative interest in the airline, was asked by the board to sell his remaining shares to Ansett. With this, MMA became a subsidiary of Ansett Transport Industries who held a majority shareholding of 70. 49 per cent.

The acquisition of F27s allowed the airline to rationalise its fleet which in 1960 consisted of two Avro Ansons, six DC-3s, one DH Dove and an F27. Route trimming was instigated by Ansett who, in the face of much community condemnation, cited economic reasons for the reduction and withdrawal of services.

1968 was an eventful year for MMA with Ansett making a successful bid for the remaining privately held shares offering two shares for one. It was also the year that the airline introduced its first F28 to service. On June 1st 1969 MMA became a division of ATI, and in August 1982 the MMA era came to a close with the company changing its name to Airlines of Western Australia.

The seventh F28 (VH-FKG) to enter service was named Horrie Miller after the airline’s founder, who some 48 years earlier started MMA with a mail contract between Perth and Daly Waters.