AUSTRALIAN AIR EXPRESS (PTY.), LTD.: P. O. Box 1324L, 2nd Floor, 399 Elizabeth St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3001, Australia; Phone 61 (3) 9241 6599; Fax 61 (3) 9241 6603; Http://www. aae. com. au; Code XM; Year Founded 1992. During the spring of 1992, AAE is established at Melbourne by the Australian Postal Corporation and Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. as a joint venture, all-cargo carrier. Allen Buckley is named CEO and, with Qantas support, additional hubs are set up at Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, and Sydney.
Employing a fleet of 2 each British Aerospace BAe 146-300QTs and Fairchild Metro Is and 1 each Boeing 727-100F, B-727-200F, and BAe 146-100F, revenue flights begin on August 1. Destinations visited include Adelaide, Brisbane, Carins, Canberra, Darwin, Gove, Groote Ey-landt, Hobart, Launceston, Mackay, Maryborough, Melbourne, Mount Isa, Perth, Rockhampton, Sydney, and Townsville.
Service is maintained without change during the remainder of the decade.
AUSTRALIAN AIRLINES (PTY.), LTD.: Australia (19861993). Timed to coincide with the arrival and introduction of the first Boeing 737-376s in August 1986, the Trans-Australian Airline (Pty.),
Ltd. name of General Manager James Strong’s 40-year-old carrier is shortened and a new logo and green and gold livery are unveiled. Featuring a kangaroo on the tail, as Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd., this new look is the creation of Melbourne-based Ken Cate design. In September, three BAe Jetstream 31s are delivered and enter service on 37 Queensland routes (to Brisbane, Cairns, MacKay, and Coolangatta) in October.
An Airbus Industrie A300B4-203 is sold to Toa Domestic Airlines Company, Ltd. in November for delivery the following March and on November 22 the B-727-276A John Fawkner is withdrawn from service and placed into storage. Late in the year, the 8,797-employee carrier enters into a comprehensive marketing arrangement with Air New Zealand, Ltd. aimed at intensifying the competition with rivals Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. and Ansett Airlines of Australia (Pty.), Ltd.
Enplanements for the entire year under both names jump 6.2% to 5,101,778, but freight dips 5% to 5.92 million FTKs. Revenues advance 14.8% to A$870.8 million and net gain rushes up to A$37.8 million, a new company record.
The workforce grows 1.2% in 1987 to 9,564 as the last of the 12 new B-737-376s join the fleet. The company’s forty-first anniversary is celebrated in February. Ted Harris is now appointed chairman to succeed the retiring Neil Smith and, on April 11, the B-727-276A John Eyre makes its last flight. A number of new services are initiated in June and July, including: Sydney-Darwin, Adelaide-Alice Springs-Darwin, Sydney-Alice Springs, Darwin-Alice Springs-Melbourne, Darwin-Brisbane, and Darwin-Adelaide. Also during July, weekly Saturday flights are undertaken between Melbourne and Cairns. In August, the B-737-376s step up the Melbourne-Cairns frequency to daily. At the year’s end, Flight Deck Club members receive access to the Red Carpet Club lounges of United Airlines under a new reciprocal agreement.
Passenger boardings ascend 1.5% to 5,166,000, but freight is down 12.3% to 51.18 million FTKs. Revenues swell 8.8% to A$690.9 million, but costs rise and knock the operating profit down 34.1% to A$18.15 million.
The payroll is increased another 1% in 1988 to 9,661. The first in a series of 10 A$499 B-737-200 holiday charters sponsored by the Western Australian Tourism Commission occurs in January over a route from
Melbourne to Perth. Low add-on fares are made available for connections from Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra, and Launceston.
In April, the carrier becomes a public company and increases its services from Sydney to Melbourne and Brisbane and from Melbourne to Brisbane as additional frequencies are added from Sydney to the Gold Coast, from Adelaide to Tasmania, and directly from Melbourne to Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. In June, the company opens a resort on Lizard Island, on the Great Barrier Reef some 150 miles north of Cairns.
During July and August, additional flights are added between Sydney and Cairns and nonstop weekend return flights from Melbourne to Cairns are resumed. During the summer, the carrier establishes a hub at Alice Springs to service the demand from tourist traffic to the country, which features an increase in return flights Alice Springs to Cairns and to Sydney. An agreement is reached with Airbus Industrie in September permitting the deferral of an order for 9 A320s until 1992.
An important milestone is reported for the month as the carrier, for the first time, takes the lead in market share away from Ansett Airlines of Australia (Pty.), Ltd.
A DHC-6-300, with two crew and four passengers, fails its takeoff from Dunk Island on November 18, descends, crosses a grassy area, bounces off a concrete culvert, and comes to rest on the other side of a road; although the Twin Otter is destroyed, there are no fatalities.
Australian bicentennial celebrations and Brisbane’s EXPO ’88 cause customer bookings to jump 18.5% to 6,124,000. Cargo also recovers, up 5.1% to 53.79 million FTKs. Revenues also increase, growing 16.8% to A$881.75 million and an after-tax A$37.9-million profit is celebrated.
The workforce is cut 1.7% in 1989, due largely to the pilot’s job action that begins in August. Meanwhile, back in January, the company begins to offer its first - and business-class passengers free access to its Flight Deck Clubs and upgrades its food and beverage services.
In March, Australian Cargo, an independent freight division, is reorganized; Paul Block is named assistant general manager in charge of the cargo operation. During the month, it is reported that the company has captured 47.4% of the domestic business market. A 33.3% stake is, during June, taken in the regional carrier Sunstate Airlines (Pty.), Ltd.
With the tourist boom and national economy slowing, the government now requires all CEOs running government entities to reapply for their positions, which now all have salary caps. Australian’s general manager, James Strong, accepts a position with a law firm. All executives reporting to government entity CEOs must also reapply for their positions, and white-collar stability at the airline suffers as Assistant General Manager David Wiltshire attempts to keep operations moving.
Having for several months contested the government’s decision to grant only a 6% wage increase instead of their request for 30%, the flyers of Australian, and their Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) union brothers from competing Ansett, are suspended. In response, the pilots resign en masse on August 24; without pilots, Australian is forced to shut down. In an effort to maintain essential air service, the government turns to the Royal Australian Air Force in September (with unhappy early results) and also invites those international airlines making more than one stop in Australia to begin carrying domestic traffic.
Under this cabotage invitation, Cathay Pacific Airways (Pty.), Ltd., Thai Airways International, Ltd., Gardua Indonesian Airlines, Malaysian Airlines, Ltd., Continental Airlines, Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Ltd. (2), and Olympic Airways, S. A. are able to provide only 22,000 of the 250,000 seats required weekly. The company now begins to wet-lease aircraft from European charter operators, whose summer season has already finished; led by 2 B-757-2T7ERs from Monarch Airlines, Ltd., 11 aircraft (including 9 B-737-300s) are requested, with 4 arriving by month’s end.
Seven more transports, again flown by crews from other airlines, arrive in October; maintenance for the planes is provided by Australian. During the month, the airline begins to recruit replacement pilots. An unnamed B-727-277 is leased from Dan-Air/Dan-Air Services, Ltd. on November 7.
As a result of the labor problems, passenger boardings decline 29.3% to 4,531,200 and freight is off 30.5% to 44.51 million FTKs. With the financial year ending before the strike, fiscal statistics do not reflect the downturn. Revenues are up 14.1% to A$944.2 million and the operating profit is A$95.3 million. Net gain is A$58.6 million.
Company employment inches upward by 0.7% in 1990 to 9,549 as domestic operations return to normal by February. Since the previous October, a total of 245 pilots, including 120 returning AFAP members, are recruited and all 280 needed for full service are in cockpits by midmonth. Later in the month, Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. executive John Schaap is appointed CEO and, by month’s end, 21 company Boeings are back in the air. Domestic airline deregulation’s first physical act is initiated on March 1 when the DOT formally opens a terminal access program. Consequently, both Australian and Ansett Airlines of Australia (Pty.), Ltd. are required to make available a limited amount of gate space for new entrants at the airports at Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne.
The first of nine ordered B-737-476s is delivered in April, the same month that a second wet-leased Dan Air, Ltd. B-727-277 is returned; indeed, the last wet-leased foreign transport is released in May. The route network, as of this month, includes 21 points in Australia, the majority of which are centered in the eastern half of the nation. Via its Australian Regional subsidiary, 100% shareholding is taken in Sunstate Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. on July 1.
In August, fares are discounted for foreign travelers who fly the airline between its eight most popular multicity itineraries. The company begins to operate under airline deregulation on November 1.
Customer bookings accelerate 28.1% to 5,803,757 while cargo increases by 15.4% to 52.4 million FTKs. Long after the pilot strike is over, it continues to have a financial impact. Revenues skyrocket 82% to A$626 million. Operating income reaches A$15 million and the net profit is A$7.5 million.
The workforce is reduced by 11.6% in 1991 to 8,400 and the fleet now includes 4 A300B4-203s, 10 B-737-276As, including 1 out of service, 16 B-737-376s, 9 B-737-476s, including 1 leased to Malaysian Airlines, Ltd. (MAS) , and 2 Fokker F.27-600 Friendships. Orders are outstanding for 7 B-737-476s. The B-727-276A Freeman Cobb is sold out of service on March 6. Also in March, four-times-per-week transcontinental service is initiated from Sydney to Yulara, initially via Alice Springs. The carrier is restructured in April. Not only are many functions centralized at the Melbourne headquarters, but also six individual business units are created: Australian Airlines, Australian Resorts, Regional Airlines, Catering, Westpac Travel, and Australian Cargo.
Beginning in July and continuing through November 9, the carrier runs a “best seats in the world” promotional contest; entrants win transportation prizes and seats at such premier events as the British Open and 1992 Olympic Games.
On August 1, the carrier completes its 100% purchase of Eastern Australia Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. by purchasing the remaining 42% equity held by the regional’s chairman, John C. Rosworth. Also in August, the new subsidiary Australian Airlink (Pty.), Ltd. is created to begin operations over coastal routes from Brisbane to Darwin and from Cairns into central Australia and to Perth.
Keeping pace with Ansett Australia (Pty.), Ltd., the carrier, in September, introduces a stringent frequent flyer program that requires an A$30 entrance fee and grants credits good only for one year. In order to allow the carrier to return to full profitability before its sale, the government, in October, delays the formal privatization of Australian “for at least six months.” The B-727-276A Bert Hinkler completes the last AA service by its type on December 31, flying a service from Melbourne to Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney to Melbourne.
Passenger boardings move ahead another 14.1% to 6,619,000 and freight ascends 2.5% to 52.34 million FTKs. Revenues accelerate 35% to A$1.04 billion and a net profit of A$49.7 million is reported.
The payroll grows 13.1% in 1992 to 9,500. Ten B-737-276As are withdrawn and 5 more B-737-476s arrive. Beginning in April, a war of fares and semantics is entered into with competing Ansett Australia (Pty.), Ltd. To counter its rival, Australian eliminates first-class service, replacing it with Premier Class. Business class is succeeded by Australian Club service and economy - and coach-class tickets are discounted to 60%.
In September, the carrier is taken over by Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. following the government’s surprise July reversal of its long-standing ban on cross-shareholding between the country’s airlines. An A$400-million (US$303-million) merger is completed between the two carriers in November. It instantly makes the combined company, which will be integrated under the Qantas name, the 15th largest airline in the world in terms of ticket sales.
Customer bookings advance 24.1% to 7,308,248 while cargo inches up 1.9% to 36.41 million FTKs.
Integration of the two carriers is completed on May 6, 1993. On that date, the first Australian B-737-376, repainted in the red and white livery of Qantas, is rolled out in ceremonies at the former Australian maintenance base at Tullamarine, Melbourne.
AUSTRALIAN AIRLINK (PTY.), LTD.: Level 9, Building B, 203 Coward St., Mascot, New South Wales, 2020, Australia; Phone 61 (2) 691-4115; Fax 61 (2) 691-4312; Http://www. qantas. com. au/ flying/regional/index. html#airlink; Code KN; Year Founded 1991.
Australian Airlink, Ltd. is formed at Melbourne, Victoria, in the summer of 1991 as a subsidiary of Australian Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. Jackie Cook is named managing director and the fleet is equipped with 4 British Aerospace BAe 146-100 jetliners. Daily nonstop services are undertaken in August from Sydney to Cairns and Coolangatta. Other examples of national frequencies initiated during the month include flights from Darwin to Brisbane, Cairns to Alice Springs, Darwin, and Grove, and Cairns to Perth via stops in Central Australia. A total of 106,556 passengers are flown by year’s end.
Neither fleet nor employment changes in 1992. Customer bookings do, however, increase to 246,102. With the acquisition of its parent by Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. in September, Australian Airlink becomes a subsidiary of a new parent. The company’s aircraft are repainted in modified Qantas livery, complete with kangaroo tails.
Services continue apace in 1993 and orders are placed for 3 leased BAe 146-200s and 2 chartered 146-300s with which to increase services in Western Australia. Although traffic figures are not released, it is noted that new Managing Director Peter Moore’s carrier suffers a loss of $A 2.4 million.
Bryan Banston succeeds Moore as managing director in early 1994. The BAe 146-200s arrive in September, followed by the Dash-300s two months later. The former, based at Brisbane, are deployed on routes to, between, and from Rockhampton, Mackay, Prosperine, and Canberra, increasing flights over the latter route from 6 to 20 each week.
The BAe 146-300s based at Cairns fly to, from, and between Ayers Rock, Alice Springs, Perth, Gove, and Darwin. On November 14, 2 BAe 146-100s are placed on routes from Perth to Broome, Port Hedland, Karratha, and Kalgoorlie.
Again, no traffic figures are given (media estimates claim approximately 400,000 boardings), but the loss is said to have “improved” to A$2.07 million
At the beginning of 1995 the Australian Airlink serves 16 airports, including five in Western Australia, four in the Northern Territory, five in Queensland, plus Adelaide and Canberra.
Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. international and domestic services arriving at Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Cairns are able to transfer to an affiliated carrier for flights into the interior.
Flights continue in 1996-1997. Beginning on June 1, 1998, Airlink introduces new twice-daily frequencies from Brisbane to Canberra and a new daily roundtrip between Brisbane and Rockhampton. The carrier also shares an Avro RJ70 with Norfolk Jet Express (Pty.), Ltd.
Australia’s largest regional airline, Airlink, at the beginning of 1999, flies to 19 cities in 5 Australian states. On April 1, thrice-daily BAe 146200 roundtrips begin from Brisbane to Hamilton Island.
AUSTRALIAN EMPIRE AIRWAYS (PTY.), LTD. See QANTAS EMPIRE AIRWAYS (PTY.), LTD.
AUSTRALIAN JET CHARTER (PTY.), LTD.: P. O. Box 205, Ross Smith Avenue, Kingsford Smith Airport, Mascot, New South Wales, 2020, Australia; Phone 2 693 2855; Fax 2 689 2204; Code AJC; Year Founded 1983. An affiliate of Australian Jet Charter Aircraft Sales (Pty.), Ltd., AJC is established at Kingsford Smith Airport at Mascot, New South Wales, in 1983. Tony King is managing director, with John Wright as president. Executive flights are inaugurated throughout the nation with a fleet that includes 3 Cessna Citation Is, 1 Cessna Citation II, 1 Canadair 600, and 2 Dassault Falcon 20s.
Operations continue apace during the remainder of the decade; in the early 1990s oil industry charters are also undertaken to the Russian Far East and northern Japan.
An Australian investment group, together with British World Airlines, Ltd., purchases control in 1997. Capt. Ian Vanderbeek becomes managing director and by 2000 his 26-member workforce has increased to 31. Contract management services are now offered and the executive jet fleet is reinforced with a passenger-configured British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 32EP. Annual sales of A$2 million plus are enjoyed.
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL AIRWAYS (PTY.), LTD. See ANA (AUSTRALIAN NATIONALAIRWAYS [PTY.], LTD.)
AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL AIRLINES QUEENSLAND (PTY.), LTD.: Australia (1988-1993). With Peter R. Ryan as chairman/general manager, ARA is formed at Garbutt, Queensland, in early 1988 to provide regularly scheduled commuter services over routes previously flown by Air Queensland (Pty.), Ltd. An initial fleet of four (later five) de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otters is acquired, outfitted with bubble windows for sight-seeing. Services are inaugurated from Cairns to Townsville, Mackay, the Barrier Reef Islands, and other regional stops and enplanements total 116,153.
An additional bubble window Twin Otter arrives in 1989; however, due largely to the nationwide pilot job action, passenger boardings decline 25.6% to 66,601. Orders are placed for two Fokker F.27-600 Friendships. Two Fokker F.27-600 Friendships are requested in early 1990 as AR takes over a number of routes from the failed Norfolk Airlines Group. A. R.Q. is formed later in the year as a subsidiary of Australian Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. through the merger of two small regional carriers Air Queensland (Pty.), Ltd. and Resort Airlines (Pty.) Ltd. Employing the new Fokker F.27-600s, flights are inaugurated over reworked route networks.
The Fokkers are replaced in 1991 with a DHC-8-102 and a total of 126,228 passengers are boarded. The fleet is revised again in 1992 and comes to comprise 5 DHC-6-300s. During the fall, the company begins to market its repair capabilities; in October, its first contract for aircraft modification is won from Vanuatu-based Vanair. The DHC-8-102 is transferred, along with a major route, to Sunstate Airlines (Pty.), Ltd. As a result, customer bookings fall 14% to 147,993. In September, ARA’s parent, Australian Airlines, is acquired by Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd.
In 1993, ARA is eliminated by its new owners and its assets and aircraft are transferred to the regional, Queensland-based Sunstate Airlines (Pty.), Ltd., itself once an Australian Airlines subsidiary. A profit of A$104,340 is reported. Operations continue apace in 1994, although this year there is a loss of A$375,900.
AUSTRALIAN TRANSCONTINENTAL AIRWAYS, LTD.: Australia (1935). ATA is formed at Adelaide in the early summer of 1935 with the mission of initiating regularly scheduled services across the continent, north to south. Flying an Avro 10, Capt. J. Chapman begins service Adelaide to Darwin on August 19. Traffic does not support the route and without subsidy, the company is forced stop flying on October 11.
AUSTRIAN AIR SERVICES (AAS): P. O. Box 50, Fontanastrasse 1, Vienna 7, A-1107, Austria; Phone 43 (1) 638 510; Fax 43 (1) 685 505; Code SO; Year Founded 1980. Established at Vienna on February 4, 1980, this domestic passenger airline is owned by Austrian Airlines (Osterreichische Luftverkehrs, A. G.) (26%), and the governing bodies of the airports at Vienna, Salzburg, Graz, Klagenfurt, and Linz (14.8% each). Drs. Anton Heschgi and Hubert Papousek, CEOs of the flag carrier, are named joint managing directors. Two Fairchild-Swearingen Metro IIs inaugurate scheduled service between the five landing fields on April 1, the same day that the nation’s second commuter airline, Tyrolean Airways, A. G., is established at Innsbruck.
A third Metro II is added in 1982 and operations continue apace in 1983-1984. A Metro II, with two crew and eight passengers, is destroyed as the result of a bad landing at Vienna on September 17 of the latter year; there are no fatalities.
Austrian Airlines, A. G. orders a Fokker 50 for its charge in September 1985 and operations continue apace in 1986-1987.
An historic agreement is signed on January 28, 1988, between Austrian Airlines, A. G., Austrian Air Services, and Tyrolean Airways, A. G. rationalizing airline services by prohibiting parallel routing. Tyrolean Airways, A. G. is guaranteed protection of its lucrative Innsbruck-Vienna route and, like AAS, agrees to a maximum of 52-seat equipment. The first two Fokker 50s are acquired later in the year. The fleet is completely altered in 1989, as the Metroliners are all replaced by 4 Fokker 50s. A net $98,000 profit is earned.
Company employment is increased by 13.1% in 1990 to 43 as a fifth Fokker 50 joins the fleet. Austrian Airlines, A. G. becomes a 100% controlling partner and Peter Bolech and Edgar Kozak become joint managing directors. Passenger boardings ascend 18.1% over the same period a year earlier to 108,733. Revenues climb 17.3% to $13.5 million and net profit rises to $289,000.
Another Fokker 50 arrives in 1991 followed by 2 more in 1992. In 1993, joint managing directors Bolech and Kozak oversee a workforce of 86 and a fleet of 7 Fokker 50s. Vienna to Salzburg via Linz service is maintained.
Following the takeover of Tyrolean Airways, A. G. by Austrian Airlines, A. G. during the first quarter of 1994, plans are made to integrate the route network of the new subsidiary with that of AAS, with the Tyrolean name surviving.
This plan is abandoned the following year and the wholly owned subsidiary continues its flight schedules as before with 7 Fokker 50s.
World History
