Qantas meets minister over airline collapse
New Zealand’s transport minister, Mark Gosche, is to meet executives from Qantas Airways on Monday to encourage them to begin a domestic service, following the abrupt collapse of the country’s second-biggest airline, Qantas New Zealand, on Saturday.
There were no financial links between the two airlines. Qantas New Zealand was a privately owned airline that operated under a licence agreement with the Australian carrier.
The New Zealand civil aviation authorities granted regulatory approval on Thursday for Qantas Airways to begin flying domestic routes in New Zealand under the open-skies agreement between the two countries. Mr Gosche said the government wanted another significant domestic airline to ensure Air New Zealand did not end up with a domestic monopoly.
Air New Zealand and third-level carriers put on additional flights over the weekend and managed to cope with thousands of stranded passengers. Qantas Airways honoured all tickets.
However, severe difficulties are expected this week if Air New Zealand has to continue to handle thousands more business and holiday travellers. Air New Zealand has already lent aircraft to help its subsidiary Ansett Australia cope with the grounding of most of its Boeing 767 fleet.
Airline sources say Qantas Airways is likely to begin flying between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this week. However, Qantas Airways is also said to be short of aircraft because of the intense competition in its own domestic market against Virgin Blue, Impulse and Ansett Australia.
A Qantas Airways spokesman said his airline was obviously considering its options. He said it had held extensive talks about buying its New Zealand namesake before the receiver was appointed. These collapsed after the owners of the failed airline wanted Qantas Airways to pick up trade debts of NZ$20m (US$8.2m).
Qantas New Zealand also wanted it to take over the lease of its fleet of 24 aircraft, which are mainly BAe 146 jets, and Jetstreams. In an odd twist, most of these were leased from Ansett International.
Qantas New Zealand was formerly Ansett New Zealand. The New Zealand regulators insisted it be sold when they gave permission for Air New Zealand to buy its parent, Ansett Australia.
