Australia marks quarter century of ‘life without Ansett’

Ansett, founded in 1936, was brought down by severe financial, fleet, and industrial relations issues, leaving around 16,000 people unemployed.

Two of its regional subsidiaries, Hazelton and Kendell Airlines, merged into Rex – which itself went into voluntary administration in 2024 before being rescued last year – while the Ansett brand itself survives in Ansett Aviation Training, which offers simulator training in Melbourne.

According to RMIT Aviation Academy’s Justin Brownjohn, Ansett’s underlying issues meant its survival was “never assured on its own terms”, and its demise was a heavy blow to the industry.

“A mixed and ageing fleet, a high cost base and a fractured ownership structure under Air New Zealand were structural problems with difficult solutions,” he said.

“Sixteen thousand jobs went, but so did an entire parallel ecosystem: heavy maintenance capability, an engineering apprenticeship pipeline, cabin crew and pilot training infrastructure, and a second centre of institutional aviation knowledge in this country.

“Competition can be rebuilt in a decade. Industrial depth of that kind takes considerably longer, and arguably we never replaced it and we are seeing the outcomes of that today in the pilot and AME pipelines, or lack of them.”

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Aviation veterans have been sharing their memories on LinkedIn, with Brisbane Airport media and corporate affairs officer Peter Doherty – at the time a reporter for 7 News – saying viewers at the time were “barely in shock”.

“That’s because they’d already spent three days watching wall-to-wall coverage of 9/11. Everyone was exhausted and trying to process what had happened,” he said.

“But I still remember the tears of the Ansett crews turning up for their shift, only to learn the planes wouldn’t be flying. And the despair of passengers who had boarding passes to nowhere.

“Many of those Ansett staff would go on to work for other airlines. Some are still in the industry today.”

Chartair CEO Paul Lister, who was working for then-upstart carrier Virgin Blue at the time of the Ansett collapse, posted that “rumours had been circulating at senior levels that Ansett was on the brink” prior to the announcement.

“I was based in Sydney, and four or five days before the collapse I was sent to Canberra where we had a single employee,” he said.

“Ansett did our ground handling for a daily 737-400 flight to Brisbane, my job was to sit and wait and if Ansett collapsed step in and make sure our passengers were looked after.

“When the call came through early that morning, I donned my uniform and headed for the airport; we had one additional colleague join us from Melbourne to turn that first flight around and the three of us checked in, boarded and loaded the aircraft.

“It took way longer than normal but we did it, the plane left late but it departed. The following day additional guest services staff and pit crew were sent and we got on with life, without Ansett.”

The Ansett brand was last year revived by Melbourne businessman Constantine Frantzeskos as an “AI-powered” online travel agency.