iscover
Issue 87: June 1993
Did Compass Die, or Was It Killed?
Were you shocked by the sudden demise of Compass II? I don’t mean so much that it failed, but rather the almost indecent haste in which it was put to rest. Almost as if those involved actually wanted it dead and buried. Gone and hope- fully forgotten.
It’s demise is sadly characterised by this writer having flown on the airline in mid February. The ticket was paid by credit card and you guessed it, the airline had ceased to exist by the time the bill had come in for payment. Now we appreciate that aviation is a fast paced industry but that’s ridiculous! Just as surprising was Compass CEO, Sam Coats’ appearance as guest speaker at the National Aviation Press Club in Sydney on February 23, the day the half year loss was announced that precipitated the eventual collapse. All present reported on what Compass was going to do to remedy its short term ills. No big deal and quite frankly less of a problem than that experienced by most other airlines during the preceding year or two. Little did any of us know at that function that barely two weeks later the entire airline would cease to exist! The rest of course is history. Within 48 hours of the NAPC luncheon, the airline’s shares had ceased trading and in less than a week the airline was in receivership. One week later it flew its final flight and so sadly ended another episode in Australia’s dramatic aviation industry. As one scribe later stated, “If I’d been on holidays I would have missed it!” At the time it certainly did seem that the airline’s demise was being treated as a fait accompli, certainly not aided by the very public and confused dealings of its deputy chairman, Doug Reid. However, was the airline put to death prematurely? This is a question Australian Aviation has been asking for some weeks and the feedback we are getting is that nobody seems to really understand why events proceeded at the breakneck pace that they did. After all, at stake was over a thousand direct and indirect jobs, tens of millions of dollars of investors funds and many millions more in debits to hundreds of businesses large and small, both here and abroad. In fact the official dissolution has left debts of $28. 1m.
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