16 September 2001
From what has been happening, it sounds like Air New
Zealand had been siphoning money out of Ansett by charging fuel
and catering costs against the airline and possibly doing so
after it knew Ansett was bankrupt. This has caused Ansett
workers to call for a boycott of Air NZ, which the NZ PM doesn’t
like much.
To save money, the .au Government allowed the
two domestic airlines (Qantas/Australian Airlines and
Ansett) to build the air terminals themselves. At almost
every domestic airport in australia, you will see a Qantas
half and an Ansett half (usually with different
architecture, etc). Separate checkins, separate bagage
collection, separate arival/departure gates, etc. Now half
of every domestic air terminal is left closed. Those people
who happened to own shops inside an Ansett terminal can’t
open for business. I really hope some of the smaller
airlines (such as Virgin) will finally be allowed to use
Ansett’s space in the domestic terminals, which will allow
them to compete more evenly than before (before they often
had to use other buildings round the airport or the
international airport terminals).
The ACCC is going to toughen
the rules for airlines so that this change doesn’t make
it even more difficult for new airlines to break into the
business.
In news on the Tampa refugees, the courts
are going to rule on the Government’s apeal today.