I flew for Ansett for 10 years prior to the pilots dispute in 89. Went on to fly for Qantas but my time at Ansett was without doubt my best years in aviation. It was a great airline pre dispute from a pilots perspective.
I just recently found this link on You Tube and am broken hearted. I worked for Ansett International Airfreight for two years in the United States and it was by far the best job I have ever had. After handling the preparation for the SYD 2000 games and all the work behind it I was devastated that the airline was going under and that operations were ceased in 2001. The collapse of the airline was a blow to the world and a loss for everyone. There is not one airline that exists today that can match the service and the loyalty that Ansett staff put in to make the airline that absolute best. I miss everything about it and can only hope that someday an airline will evolve that will match that of the great Ansett Australia.
My last day working with Ansett in Brisbane was Sept 11, 2001. I finished at 2100, got home at 2145 and was watching the late night news of the World Trade Centre. Was off Wed/Thur back day shift Friday. My dad started with Ansett in 1970 and I started 6 months before the pilots dispute in 89. Very sad event for all the workers.
It wasn’t abandoned, my parents worked there, one as a pilot and one as a front desk, New Zealand actually bought Ansett and stole lots of it’s electronics making it die, after it died in 2001 it came back in 2002 using the last money they have by selling lots of planes leaving only 4 operating Ansett planes, after they tried to revive Ansett, it failed and never came back.
First time i went on a plane on my own was with Ansett. I was a minor (14 years old) and the staff did everything they could to make sure i was comfortable and kept me informed of what was going on. Melbourne to Brisbane, 2 and a bit hours, and they checked up on me about 5 times in that short flight. Best flight experience I've ever had. Even my parents felt comfortable leaving me to fly alone after the airline called to see if i had any specific needs. When i got to Brisbane, Ansett staff escorted me to the gate for my connecting flight to central Queensland and made sure to show me where the food, toilets and entertainment were so i wouldn't walk around lost. Brilliant staff and services that you don't get these days. Sadly missed
I miss Ansett. I use to love mystery flights. Turn up early at the airport, pay for a return flight to somewhere, and be home again that night. They also had standby tickets available, which were cheap just to fill in empty seats.
Having not living down under,,it totally escaped me, as to why I never saw them in any aviation clips, but was a VERY informative historical video, cheers from NJ USA
Ansett started as a domestic service in Australia, about 1950s I think? It only started to fly international during the 90s, then collapsed. It was a great domestic airline, the QANTAS of domestic flights in Australia. It had an amazing safety record.
When I started at QANTAS in the mid 90's I knew something wasn't right with Ansett as we were driving around in new Toyota 4WD vehicles while Ansett ground crews were using beaten up 1970's Ford Escorts.
You should see some of the ageing beaten up ground crew vehicles Qantas crews are driving around in now at Sydney Airport. Some have got as many Kms on them as some aircraft.
As a kid, I remember their 727s landing in Port vila, Vanuatu. Going to the airport just to watch jets land and take off was a favourite family past time for a lot of families back in the 80s and 90s 🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺
My first flight that I remember was with Ansett flight from Melbourne to Coolangatta airport for vacation on the Gold Coast I was 11. I was so excited I remember I was given colouring book and pencils. since then I have flown many many times. It's a shame it doesn't exist any more. Thank you for explaining what happened to this great Australian company, what a shame.
well done video, I was fully prep'ed for some mis-truths I was a former Ansett employee, and one that found out the hard way about the only thing missed was the first Administrators said it was too hard, and it was the 2nd administrators that pulled the pin and you are correct imo with the singapore deal (with hindsight) being the last viable option that would have saved it, and something that I think singapore also regrets
You left out the Pilot's dispute of 89' that too had an effect on the Airlines. Singapore Airlines wanted to buy the other share of Ansett but was blocked by the Australian government. The government as well as Qantas and New Zealand didn't want Ansett returning to the skies the game was rigged.
No -- Ansett was financially overstretched. At the time I worked for another transport company that refused to yield to workers requests for a very reasonable wage. It too is 'no longer with us'.
@slimchancetoo Ansett was being asset stripped since the early eighty's to pay for it's increasing debts due to gross mismanagement from Peter Abeles and Rupert Murdoch. They really didn't care for Ansett they were in it for the buck, it played out very similar as portrayed by Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street. Don't forget the number of small businesses in the tourist industry that went broke during dispute. It virtually destroyed the tourist industry in Cairns.
@sunsetlights 100 Rupert Murdoch along with TNT's Peter Abeles did an aggressive successful takeover bid for Ansett in 1980. That was beginning of the end for Ansett as a independent airline now owned by greedy corporate raiders. Murdoch and Abeles were asset stripping Ansett during the 80's before Ansett's eventual demise.
So was I, flew Ansett all over Australia frequently for years. Earned masses of frequent flyer points for retirement trip. Lost them all when the company went bust
This video reminded me that me and some mates lost our money on a pre-paid Ansett holiday to the Gold Coast for October 2001 Indy race. Filled in claim forms but never saw our money again.
As unfortunate as it was for the employees, Ansett collapse was the best thing that happened to the Australian flying public. As a duopoly Qantas and Ansett purposefully failed to compete with one another and kept the airfare prices high. With the Ansett collapse and emergence of Virgin Blue on the Australian market that all quickly changed and ushered a new era of affordable flying.
HA! Didn't you know that the comments on this video are all about nostalgia & remembering things the way they weren't. Back in the "good old days" ordinary people Drove interstate with their friends and or family. Whom ever in the group had the biggest car, or the car thought least likely to breakdown , was the nominated car that everyone crammed into, whilst sharing the driving and the fuel costs as flying in the "Great" Ansett era was simply UNAFFORDABLE to many.
Love this video mate, I noticed you used DJ Tiësto Adagio For Strings soundtrack, it makes the video much more better. It’s sooo AMA,zing exploring Abandoned Australian relics, I wish these old icons comeback to life including Wonderland, sorry went off topic but great videos keep it up 😁😁😁
Great video definitely nailed most of the points from the rise to fall of Ansett. It was a great place to work, great people, but poor decision making from above ruined the airline as you spoke about.
Gonna show my age. This is what 80's kids sang in the Oz school playground: Jingle bells Batman smells Robin flew away Wonder Woman lost her bosoms flying TAA Hey!
@@potedude Best ads of the 80's: - American express with mr wong - solo man drinks solo on a kayak - Sidchrome you can't hand a man a grander spanner - Telecom the way we were... - John West with the Japanese guy who says "I karnnnnanowwww!" that got said all over school. - How could I forget - "Two. Two thirty. Two thirty brunswick street. Fitzroy. Erik. Erik Planinsek." That was a fashion store. A few years ago a radio station asked for Eric Planinsek to phone in. He didn't. Agh.
@@potedude I went on a holiday to Tasmania in 1982. Saw the water wheels and those drums in a river, port arthur and launceston. In those days there wasn't a barrier in the plane between you and the pilot; when we landed back in Melbourne we could see the pilot in his cockpit as we got off. It was a normal 747 jet.
During the night before Ansett collapsed for the first time ANZ moved into the Brisbane engineering hangers and knocked off a shitload of spares taking them to NZ and some of the caterers got a heads up and reclaimed their gear before they were locked out by the Administrators.
Air NZ did own Ansett, so I guess they can do whatever they wanted with their own company, but it probably made it less likely Ansett would ever be able to recover. Certainly in the days following the 1st shutdown, there was a lot of hatred for NZ in general. The Unions even blocked Helen Clark's Air NZ flight from leaving Melbourne, causing the RNZAF to send a plane over to rescue her.
@@Pete856 Serves them right! the kiwi government should've had enough common sense to deny Air NZ's wish to pursue Ansett! What the hell were either of them thinking?!
@@mikespearwood3914 My understand is air NZ wanted to fly their own brand domesticity but were told they couldn't, but they could buy an existing company, so they did. Then came Virgin, and the rules changed, they could do the domestic market......almost like Air NZ were setup to fail with Ansett.
@@mikespearwood3914 They didn't want to buy Ansett, they were forced into it by the Ocker Govt. as a condition of being allowed to fly domestically in OZ.
Was an excellent airline to travel on & I travelled on them often for work. I preferred the onboard service & loved the family atmosphere of the crews. Sadly in the last year things were of a very cheap airline - no onboard meals but the old brown paper bags used in USA. I loved their attention to detail & was offered a Golden Wing Club Membership so enjoyed the benefits. I saw the check in staff using carpet sweepers to clean the terminals as 1/3 of lights operated in 2001.
Hey mate. Wonderful video - you’ve nailed many of the key points and had some really great footage there. If you’re open to it - happy to grab a coffee one day with a few of us old timers who were there and lived through it. I’m sure we could help contribute some additional thoughts and advice that you may like to add to s recut version should you ever wish! Feel free to message me and can email further. Bravo / really well done video !
I remember flying Ansett in 1988. I bought an inexpensive multi flight ticket to Perth, Sydney, Townsville, Brisbane and Cairns. I remember it being the proper local plane service that the Australians were proud of. I only found count today that it went out of business.
unlikely you will ever get them , in all honesty you were lucky to get an average of 96% of your entitlements considering the mess and the devaulation of its assets
Don't confuse employee entitlements with super. I lost a third of my super with Air NZ "keeping many months" which we never got back, and then the super fund having to be liquidated. We all know how that works with the lawyers and accountants making heaps.
The only people who made money out of this situation were those scumbag administrators, Korda-Mentha and various lawyers, I suppise. Ansett never recovered from the 1980's.
Johnnie Black I used to work for Ansett’s former travel arm Traveland, when Ansett went broke. With regards to my entitlements (I was only there for four months July-November 2001), I got all them, but I didn’t get my super.
Fun fact, One of the 727 aircraft's was handed to Aviation Australia in Brisbane and now serves as a training aid sitting outside their hangar painted in an Aviation Australia livery ;)
Wow you have done your homework. My first ever flight was on Ansett. Nothing but good experiences but I changed allegiance when old Reg came out with some truly horrible and unnecessary remarks about his employees. This really matters to me then and now. I have gone on to be a platinum frequent flyer with two different airlines and still have my Ansett Golden Wing card. I also have Ansett's last three in flight magazines.
Loving these videos man, I'm bindging them all ATM, looking forward to more abandoned episodes, would love to see episodes on things like Borders, sugar fix, granny mays, Onetel, warner brothers stores, oh oh oh! Fox studios back lot tour!!!! Hahahah anyway keep them up man
You have understated the Compass issue . Abel’s told Bob Hawke his great mate that Compass had to go so Hawke killed it. Bob Hawke the great workers friend. About 3 days before Xmas they hit Compass over navigation charges, check it out. Compass was killing Ansett and it had to go.
While this is a pretty good summary it mainly misses(it touches on it on the 3 pers flight crew on B767) is the labour practices and the grip the unions had on the company. These practices had the company paying huge money to a range of workers including pilots, baggage handlers(yes earning upwards of $90T per annum back in 2000) etc. It wasn't just about the money either, the union permitted work practices meant productivity was a dog. This was a doomed company from structural issues, not so much aircraft type selection(although as mentioned B767 was symptomatic of the issues faced).
I had the same thought while I was listening and thought what a good idea, 1. Read for those that cant be bothered 2. Add some stock footage 3. ???????? 4. Profit
Loved your video. A couple of errors of fact: (at 6:17) TAA introduced the first domestic wide-bodied aircraft, the Airbus A-300 in August 1981, over 12 months before Ansett introduced the B-767-200. (At 6:35,) Ansett was the third carrier to introduce the A-320 after Air France and British Airways. (BA accepted the A-320s ordered by British Caledonian as part of the aquisition in 1988.)
You do some great content! But I reckon you should invest in a better microphone. But otherwise I love watching your videos and learning the history of Australia
Ansett Airlines went bust in the same week as Jihadis flew planes into the Twin Towers. I had lost a lot of frequent flier points, but I comforted myself by thinking that I hadn't lost my life in a crash.
The best service I’ve ever witnessed world-wide was with Ansett. Lovely people, great service and nice comfortable planes. It’s too bad their story had to end this way.
As a proud australian who had been flying on this airline since i was 5 years old I was hit hard when we lost the mighty icon of Australia. This still upsets me and rightly or wrongly i still will never fly air new zealand for this !
Cool! I didn't know you had your own "Abandoned" series that's just like that of Bright Sun Films, except focusing on Australian businesses rather than US businesses! And just like that channel, you too started out as a gaming channel (from what I can tell), but haven't shifted to focus on just films. It's OK, though.
How about a video on Grundy world on the Gold coast, it was a weird theme park/arcade at the top of a shopping centre. Even stranger was that it was built by reg Grundy productions, a tv company that created most of Australian tv from the 70's til the 2000's, these included neighbours, Bert's family fued, and pretty much every program that was on Aussie tv from 4pm til 8pm
@@frankwatt745 Only flew Ansett once. Was OK, but the short flight between Adelaide and Melbourne wasn't enough to judge. Besides, thos was in 1998, and Ansett was well into decline by then.
Sad but true !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sir Reg owned just 4% of the airline/business conglomerate he founded and which was as much a part of 60's Australian life as the local milk bar or the town hall dance on Saturday nights. He was shocked, stunned, when informed that he did not have any right to occupy his favourite hobby farm, up near Seymour Victoria, or several other assets he regarded as 'personal property'. Sad but true -- I was there on the crew that removed his and his family's effects from the farm. Oh to hear the sound of Sir Reggie's helicopter taking him home at night again. "Those were the days my friends those were the days."
Before they moved to beyond the black stump - there was a Liquidation store in the Brisbane south eastern burbs called Trads - for the longest time you could still purchase cutlery packets, sick bags and some other paper ephemera with Ansett branding. It was a real blast from the past.
One of the Ansett 737’s Can still be found in the Moorabbin Airport Museum - The Tail Is Missing due to most likely to save space for the Metal Stairs at the Back of it.
I flew on them once in 1970 a DC-9 from SYD-BNE and came back on TAA which I thought was better. Very poor decisions on the part of ANZ, but in the regulated industry back then actually clearing costs and making a profit took a back seat to rediculous expectations.
My father worked for Ansett as a leading hand from 71-02 he received 16c in the dollar for his life time of super... nearly crippled my parents retirement.
And the company that did their catering, Gate Gourmet, flew out of Perth, and no doubt the rest of Australia with out ever paying their employees their entitlements. The full transcript is on an ABC webpage.
Actually history tells us we did. Imagine how well Qantas would've given us a "like it or lump it" airline had there been no competition. I'm glad that Virgin Blue started up. I doubt there would have been Australians bold enough to pour money into the Australian airline industry alone. The fall of Compass would be enough to scare them off. Maybe Dick Smith would've started one, but he'd have us flying in GAF Nomads.
I had a return ticket from Sydney to Perth & back just a day or two after they collapsed in 2001. I got my money for the ticket eventually back through the Credit Card provider, but that took about 3 months. The Frequent Flyer Points I had accumulated prior to that planned trip under Ansett & Singapore Airlines were lost. Thousands of points. Ironic that the collapse occurred just days after 911....but Ansett was already beset with troubles, in the aftermath of 911 they would've floundered anyway. Lost money on accommodation & car rental, that was irrecoverable.
I flew on Ansett in 1995 from HKG-SYD & BNE to CNS. I miss Ansett as they were a good company with excellent customer service and I never had anything bad to say about them. Hopefully someone may buy them again but maybe that's all but impossible now given the length time that has past.
@@boratisgod we didn't actually know the airline was closing down. Wasn't until the crew thanked us as we were disembarking and told us it would be the last time.
Ansett was Star Alliance’s main carrier in Oceania beside Air NZ. Star might lose another member in the next few weeks as South Africa is cutting out South African Airways’ funding and they’re laying off all staff
another thing that didnt help ansett was their total lack of management of the air freight side , it was seen as open check book and zero accountability , basically it was a bludge job i remember every time i went to ansett air freight terminal at kingsford smith in sydney the forkies would be out in the open in a group just sitting around smoking ( you could do that back in those days ) and talking and there would be only 1 forkie unloading the trucks , this meant freight rarely made the planes they were intended for and the delays and lines were at one point worse than port botany ( if you ever have been stuck down there you know you can waste an entire day without hauling a single thing ) and management didnt seem to care , it was sad because i flew ansett a few times and i used to really like it although i preferred australian i just remember the both being way better than qantas , i basically only fly virgin or rex now
I remember taking off in one of the Boeing's just before they were grounded. It was shaking and rattling like crazy. Whole plane was vibrating. I thought it went they couldn't afford to repair them, and with the loss of revenue from the grounded planes that was finally the end?
Hey man, did you ever go to xerts in darling harbour back when that existed, i dont think it exists anymore but i remember it being a big thing for kids back in the early 2000s-2005ish
They have a romance to their name like PanAm were you think of their grand history. A lot better than being on a packed flight were it's entire history is misery.
A bit obscure. But could you do a video on what happened to Roller City? They were a roller skate indoor rink franchise. They had an ad on TV with the line" get your feet on wheels, now you really roller skate, roller, roller city!" I used to roller skate there every Saturday from about 1983 to about 1985. Do they still exist? I haven't seen them advertise ever. There seems to be some "roller city" places still in Australia. I don't know if it's the same franchise. In any case they don't seem to have ever reached the heights of public cut through of the 80's.
Hello! Excellent video and definitely well written and researched with fantastic supporting photos/videos. To help grow your You Tube channel you will need to invest in better sound equipment/a higher quality microphone. The microphone that you're currently using has a static/blurry type sound that isn't crystal clear like what you will need to grow your channel. Also, be VERY careful about what songs/tunes you use in the background of your videos as these are subject to copyright. I could hear a few tunes which I suspect are restricted to copyright. I'm from Brisbane so 100% want you to succeed and do well on You Tube! You're doing amazingly well so far, but still, have a couple of things to address. All the best! Cheers.
I flew for Ansett for 10 years prior to the pilots dispute in 89. Went on to fly for Qantas but my time at Ansett was without doubt my best years in aviation. It was a great airline pre dispute from a pilots perspective.
I just recently found this link on You Tube and am broken hearted. I worked for Ansett International Airfreight for two years in the United States and it was by far the best job I have ever had. After handling the preparation for the SYD 2000 games and all the work behind it I was devastated that the airline was going under and that operations were ceased in 2001. The collapse of the airline was a blow to the world and a loss for everyone. There is not one airline that exists today that can match the service and the loyalty that Ansett staff put in to make the airline that absolute best. I miss everything about it and can only hope that someday an airline will evolve that will match that of the great Ansett Australia.
My last day working with Ansett in Brisbane was Sept 11, 2001. I finished at 2100, got home at 2145 and was watching the late night news of the World Trade Centre. Was off Wed/Thur back day shift Friday. My dad started with Ansett in 1970 and I started 6 months before the pilots dispute in 89. Very sad event for all the workers.
It wasn’t abandoned, my parents worked there, one as a pilot and one as a front desk, New Zealand actually bought Ansett and stole lots of it’s electronics making it die, after it died in 2001 it came back in 2002 using the last money they have by selling lots of planes leaving only 4 operating Ansett planes, after they tried to revive Ansett, it failed and never came back.
First time i went on a plane on my own was with Ansett. I was a minor (14 years old) and the staff did everything they could to make sure i was comfortable and kept me informed of what was going on.
Melbourne to Brisbane, 2 and a bit hours, and they checked up on me about 5 times in that short flight. Best flight experience I've ever had. Even my parents felt comfortable leaving me to fly alone after the airline called to see if i had any specific needs.
When i got to Brisbane, Ansett staff escorted me to the gate for my connecting flight to central Queensland and made sure to show me where the food, toilets and entertainment were so i wouldn't walk around lost. Brilliant staff and services that you don't get these days.
Sadly missed
I miss Ansett. I use to love mystery flights. Turn up early at the airport, pay for a return flight to somewhere, and be home again that night.
They also had standby tickets available, which were cheap just to fill in empty seats.
yes, standby seats no longer exist
I had a mystery flight on East West in 1987. Best day of my life (was my 7th bday).
good for you
I remember doing that when I was young..
Wish they did stuff like that today.
I miss paying $900 Economy one way, Sydney to Melbourne
Virgin Blue would not have "taken off" without Ansett's demise. I worked for Virgin Blue and we had MASSES of Ansett equipment.
Who else didn't realise this wasn't BSF until the video started without the traditional "WHATS UP GUISE"
Having not living down under,,it totally escaped me, as to why I never saw them in any aviation clips, but was a VERY informative historical video, cheers from NJ USA
Ansett started as a domestic service in Australia, about 1950s I think? It only started to fly international during the 90s, then collapsed. It was a great domestic airline, the QANTAS of domestic flights in Australia. It had an amazing safety record.
When I started at QANTAS in the mid 90's I knew something wasn't right with Ansett as we were driving around in new Toyota 4WD vehicles while Ansett ground crews were using beaten up 1970's Ford Escorts.
You should see some of the ageing beaten up ground crew vehicles Qantas crews are driving around in now at Sydney Airport. Some have got as many Kms on them as some aircraft.
Flew Ansett for the first and only time the first time I went to Sydney in 2000. At the time had no idea what would eventuate.
As a kid, I remember their 727s landing in Port vila, Vanuatu. Going to the airport just to watch jets land and take off was a favourite family past time for a lot of families back in the 80s and 90s 🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺🇻🇺
For future Australian Businesses, don't trust Rupert Murdoch. That's what this video tells me.
He has been a piece of shit his whole career, phone hacking scandal, ruining the NBN for Foxtel, its a LONG list.
Most evil man in Australian history
@@taimarg Yep up there with Scott Morrison and Daniel Andrews
@@jacobgleggvlogs9059 yes “dictator dan” very bad how dare he get Victoria out of a Covid Crisis
Between Abels extremely poor management & Murdoch selective Asset stripping the Ansett business, & finally the pilots dispute the Airline had no hope.
My first flight that I remember was with Ansett flight from Melbourne to Coolangatta airport for vacation on the Gold Coast I was 11. I was so excited I remember I was given colouring book and pencils. since then I have flown many many times. It's a shame it doesn't exist any more. Thank you for explaining what happened to this great Australian company, what a shame.
My preferred carrier / my favourite airline (even when I was working for a QANTAS sub-contractor) !
Love your vids man, you've ignited interest for me to look into Sydney Monorail, so a massive thanks to you. Keep up the good work
well done video, I was fully prep'ed for some mis-truths
I was a former Ansett employee, and one that found out the hard way
about the only thing missed was the first Administrators said it was too hard, and it was the 2nd administrators that pulled the pin
and you are correct imo with the singapore deal (with hindsight) being the last viable option that would have saved it, and something that I think singapore also regrets
Same with Virgin, but they did a deal with Singapore and later New Zealand. Still have an Ansett chair and world map as I liked the frame.
Vicount was firrst jet aircraft in Australia
@@brucemcgeehan2847 it was a turboprop,
there is a small difference in terms of classification
Jerry Sims....I remember you. I hope Ables is still burning in hell....
@@brucemcgeehan2847 Think you mean "Turbojet"
Another amazing video they just keep getting better!
You left out the Pilot's dispute of 89' that too had an effect on the Airlines. Singapore Airlines wanted to buy the other share of Ansett but was blocked by the Australian government. The government as well as Qantas and New Zealand didn't want Ansett returning to the skies the game was rigged.
No -- Ansett was financially overstretched. At the time I worked for another transport company that refused to yield to workers requests for a very reasonable wage. It too is 'no longer with us'.
@slimchancetoo Ansett was being asset stripped since the early eighty's to pay for it's increasing debts due to gross mismanagement from Peter Abeles and Rupert Murdoch. They really didn't care for Ansett they were in it for the buck, it played out very similar as portrayed by Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street. Don't forget the number of small businesses in the tourist industry that went broke during dispute. It virtually destroyed the tourist industry in Cairns.
I'm in NZ somehow air new Zealand which is partly Gov owned borght shares in Ansett. Didn't know Rupert Murdoch involved .. New International
@sunsetlights 100 Rupert Murdoch along with TNT's Peter Abeles did an aggressive successful takeover bid for Ansett in 1980. That was beginning of the end for Ansett as a independent airline now owned by greedy corporate raiders. Murdoch and Abeles were asset stripping Ansett during the 80's before Ansett's eventual demise.
@@sunsetlights100 Air NZ was dumb to pursue Ansett, and the kiwi government was even dumber to allow them to pursue it!
Well made presentation! I'm proud to support Ansett Australia! ❤❤❤
So was I, flew Ansett all over Australia frequently for years.
Earned masses of frequent flyer points for retirement trip.
Lost them all when the company went bust
This video reminded me that me and some mates lost our money on a pre-paid Ansett holiday to the Gold Coast for October 2001 Indy race. Filled in claim forms but never saw our money again.
As unfortunate as it was for the employees, Ansett collapse was the best thing that happened to the Australian flying public. As a duopoly Qantas and Ansett purposefully failed to compete with one another and kept the airfare prices high. With the Ansett collapse and emergence of Virgin Blue on the Australian market that all quickly changed and ushered a new era of affordable flying.
HA! Didn't you know that the comments on this video are all about nostalgia & remembering things the way they weren't.
Back in the "good old days" ordinary people
Drove interstate with their friends and or family. Whom ever in the group had the biggest car, or the car thought least likely to breakdown , was the nominated car that everyone crammed into, whilst sharing the driving and the fuel costs as flying in the "Great" Ansett era was simply UNAFFORDABLE to many.
Well said, mate Ansett, dug its own grave, an overpriced shit airline
Brilliant overview! Thank you!
in the end, the only reason qantas
survived, was because they practiced "the art of war" and phvcked everybody else including
their own employees
Love the intro, was a great video. i cant wait for the next one.
Im another fellow aussie but never knew about Ansett so this was very fascinating
Love this video mate, I noticed you used DJ Tiësto Adagio For Strings soundtrack, it makes the video much more better. It’s sooo AMA,zing exploring Abandoned Australian relics, I wish these old icons comeback to life including Wonderland, sorry went off topic but great videos keep it up 😁😁😁
Great video definitely nailed most of the points from the rise to fall of Ansett. It was a great place to work, great people, but poor decision making from above ruined the airline as you spoke about.
great to see another video from you mate
Excellent video highlighting the poor fleet decisions ,the fuel cost increases and the 911 event which all contributed to the Airlines demise
Really well done.
Good research.
Well presented and professional.
Keep it up.
Really liked this video great content. I only remember Anstt flying BAe146 whisper jets in NZ though.
Gonna show my age. This is what 80's kids sang in the Oz school playground:
Jingle bells
Batman smells
Robin flew away
Wonder Woman lost her bosoms flying TAA
Hey!
TAA, fantaastic holiday...
@@potedude Best ads of the 80's:
- American express with mr wong
- solo man drinks solo on a kayak
- Sidchrome you can't hand a man a grander spanner
- Telecom the way we were...
- John West with the Japanese guy who says "I karnnnnanowwww!" that got said all over school.
- How could I forget - "Two. Two thirty. Two thirty brunswick street. Fitzroy. Erik. Erik Planinsek." That was a fashion store. A few years ago a radio station asked for Eric Planinsek to phone in. He didn't. Agh.
@@musicalneptunian You've got a good memory! Most of mine were local Tasmanian ads.
@@potedude I went on a holiday to Tasmania in 1982. Saw the water wheels and those drums in a river, port arthur and launceston. In those days there wasn't a barrier in the plane between you and the pilot; when we landed back in Melbourne we could see the pilot in his cockpit as we got off. It was a normal 747 jet.
I didn't know the Wonder woman line
How ya garn m8, Love seeing a top bloke like yourself doing so well with such gr8 video content.. Keep up the great work mate carn the Aussies
During the night before Ansett collapsed for the first time ANZ moved into the Brisbane engineering hangers and knocked off a shitload of spares taking them to NZ and some of the caterers got a heads up and reclaimed their gear before they were locked out by the Administrators.
Air NZ did own Ansett, so I guess they can do whatever they wanted with their own company, but it probably made it less likely Ansett would ever be able to recover. Certainly in the days following the 1st shutdown, there was a lot of hatred for NZ in general. The Unions even blocked Helen Clark's Air NZ flight from leaving Melbourne, causing the RNZAF to send a plane over to rescue her.
@@Pete856 Serves them right! the kiwi government should've had enough common sense to deny Air NZ's wish to pursue Ansett! What the hell were either of them thinking?!
@@mikespearwood3914 My understand is air NZ wanted to fly their own brand domesticity but were told they couldn't, but they could buy an existing company, so they did. Then came Virgin, and the rules changed, they could do the domestic market......almost like Air NZ were setup to fail with Ansett.
@@mikespearwood3914 They didn't want to buy Ansett, they were forced into it by the Ocker Govt. as a condition of being allowed to fly domestically in OZ.
Well they did own it so why not, better the company than the liquidators.
Was an excellent airline to travel on & I travelled on them often for work. I preferred the onboard service & loved the family atmosphere of the crews. Sadly in the last year things were of a very cheap airline - no onboard meals but the old brown paper bags used in USA. I loved their attention to detail & was offered a Golden Wing Club Membership so enjoyed the benefits. I saw the check in staff using carpet sweepers to clean the terminals as 1/3 of lights operated in 2001.
Hey mate. Wonderful video - you’ve nailed many of the key points and had some really great footage there. If you’re open to it - happy to grab a coffee one day with a few of us old timers who were there and lived through it. I’m sure we could help contribute some additional thoughts and advice that you may like to add to s recut version should you ever wish! Feel free to message me and can email further. Bravo / really well done video !
Another loser
I remember flying Ansett in 1988. I bought an inexpensive multi flight ticket to Perth, Sydney, Townsville, Brisbane and Cairns. I remember it being the proper local plane service that the Australians were proud of. I only found count today that it went out of business.
What about all their former employees including myself who are still owed super entitlements to this very day.
unlikely you will ever get them , in all honesty you were lucky to get an average of 96% of your entitlements considering the mess and the devaulation of its assets
Don't confuse employee entitlements with super. I lost a third of my super with Air NZ "keeping many months" which we never got back, and then the super fund having to be liquidated. We all know how that works with the lawyers and accountants making heaps.
The only people who made money out of this situation were those scumbag administrators, Korda-Mentha and various lawyers, I suppise. Ansett never recovered from the 1980's.
Johnnie Black
I used to work for Ansett’s former travel arm Traveland, when Ansett went broke.
With regards to my entitlements (I was only there for four months July-November 2001), I got all them, but I didn’t get my super.
They still owe me I learned to take all my holidays every year.
Fun fact, One of the 727 aircraft's was handed to Aviation Australia in Brisbane and now serves as a training aid sitting outside their hangar painted in an Aviation Australia livery ;)
I thought that may have been ex ansett
Wow you have done your homework. My first ever flight was on Ansett. Nothing but good experiences but I changed allegiance when old Reg came out with some truly horrible and unnecessary remarks about his employees. This really matters to me then and now. I have gone on to be a platinum frequent flyer with two different airlines and still have my Ansett Golden Wing card. I also have Ansett's last three in flight magazines.
Nice documentary, Thanks!
Loving these videos man, I'm bindging them all ATM, looking forward to more abandoned episodes, would love to see episodes on things like Borders, sugar fix, granny mays, Onetel, warner brothers stores, oh oh oh! Fox studios back lot tour!!!! Hahahah anyway keep them up man
Well done! Very well done!
typical Australia, always cock-blocking competition to ensure rates / prices are fixed and high
You have understated the Compass issue . Abel’s told Bob Hawke his great mate that Compass had to go so Hawke killed it. Bob Hawke the great workers friend. About 3 days before Xmas they hit Compass over navigation charges, check it out. Compass was killing Ansett and it had to go.
While this is a pretty good summary it mainly misses(it touches on it on the 3 pers flight crew on B767) is the labour practices and the grip the unions had on the company. These practices had the company paying huge money to a range of workers including pilots, baggage handlers(yes earning upwards of $90T per annum back in 2000) etc. It wasn't just about the money either, the union permitted work practices meant productivity was a dog. This was a doomed company from structural issues, not so much aircraft type selection(although as mentioned B767 was symptomatic of the issues faced).
I ended up with an old Realistic DX300 shortwave radio that had originally been utilised in Ansett's Maintenance Department/Workshop
So that’s what happened to Ansett. Interesting stuff!
The guy is reading Wikipedia word for word...
Is this a documentary or a Trance greatest hits compilation?
Suffering succotash!
I had the same thought while I was listening and thought what a good idea,
1. Read for those that cant be bothered
2. Add some stock footage
3. ????????
4. Profit
...badly - gabble gabble gabble - pity they couldn't get someone who knows how to narrate
@@BillClinton228 A bit of both, and Tiësto's take on Adagio for Strings was a good choice. :-)
Loved your video. A couple of errors of fact: (at 6:17) TAA introduced the first domestic wide-bodied aircraft, the Airbus A-300 in August 1981, over 12 months before Ansett introduced the B-767-200. (At 6:35,) Ansett was the third carrier to introduce the A-320 after Air France and British Airways. (BA accepted the A-320s ordered by British Caledonian as part of the aquisition in 1988.)
Correct!
You do some great content! But I reckon you should invest in a better microphone.
But otherwise I love watching your videos and learning the history of Australia
Ansett Airlines went bust in the same week as Jihadis flew planes into the Twin Towers. I had lost a lot of frequent flier points, but I comforted myself by thinking that I hadn't lost my life in a crash.
The best service I’ve ever witnessed world-wide was with Ansett. Lovely people, great service and nice comfortable planes. It’s too bad their story had to end this way.
Colin Prince Sir Colin. I completely agree
Great job on the video.
As a proud australian who had been flying on this airline since i was 5 years old I was hit hard when we lost the mighty icon of Australia. This still upsets me and rightly or wrongly i still will never fly air new zealand for this !
Cool! I didn't know you had your own "Abandoned" series that's just like that of Bright Sun Films, except focusing on Australian businesses rather than US businesses! And just like that channel, you too started out as a gaming channel (from what I can tell), but haven't shifted to focus on just films. It's OK, though.
yay!! i love your videos
How about a video on Grundy world on the Gold coast, it was a weird theme park/arcade at the top of a shopping centre.
Even stranger was that it was built by reg Grundy productions, a tv company that created most of Australian tv from the 70's til the 2000's, these included neighbours, Bert's family fued, and pretty much every program that was on Aussie tv from 4pm til 8pm
I liked Ansett, competition and good service at the time. I was sadden when it closed.
We used to say: "Are you going to fly TAA the friendly way or will you chance it with Ansett?"
@@frankwatt745 Only flew Ansett once. Was OK, but the short flight between Adelaide and Melbourne wasn't enough to judge. Besides, thos was in 1998, and Ansett was well into decline by then.
Sad but true !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sir Reg owned just 4% of the airline/business conglomerate he founded and which was as much a part of 60's Australian life as the local milk bar or the town hall dance on Saturday nights. He was shocked, stunned, when informed that he did not have any right to occupy his favourite hobby farm, up near Seymour Victoria, or several other assets he regarded as 'personal property'. Sad but true -- I was there on the crew that removed his and his family's effects from the farm. Oh to hear the sound of Sir Reggie's helicopter taking him home at night again. "Those were the days my friends those were the days."
Before they moved to beyond the black stump - there was a Liquidation store in the Brisbane south eastern burbs called Trads - for the longest time you could still purchase cutlery packets, sick bags and some other paper ephemera with Ansett branding. It was a real blast from the past.
One of the Ansett 737’s Can still be found in the Moorabbin Airport Museum - The Tail Is Missing due to most likely to save space for the Metal Stairs at the Back of it.
Sad day when we lost all those carriers. ...all because of corporate greed and miss management .... my fav airline ever
Ansett Australia reminds me of American airlines such as Braniff or TWA . They both are legends that took a hard crash at the end.
I flew on them once in 1970 a DC-9 from SYD-BNE and came back on TAA which I thought was better. Very poor decisions on the part of ANZ, but in the regulated industry back then actually clearing costs and making a profit took a back seat to rediculous expectations.
My father worked for Ansett as a leading hand from 71-02 he received 16c in the dollar for his life time of super... nearly crippled my parents retirement.
Thank goodness superannuation is now 'anywhere YOU want it' and not where the shifty company puts it.
Great Vid!
And the company that did their catering, Gate Gourmet, flew out of Perth, and no doubt the rest of Australia with out ever paying their employees their entitlements. The full transcript is on an ABC webpage.
Paul Bowen I still see Gate Gourmet trucks at Perth Airport to this day
What a shame that we lost Ansett. Someone should have stepped up and help them out finacially. We dont need Richard Bransons airline here.
Actually history tells us we did. Imagine how well Qantas would've given us a "like it or lump it" airline had there been no competition. I'm glad that Virgin Blue started up. I doubt there would have been Australians bold enough to pour money into the Australian airline industry alone. The fall of Compass would be enough to scare them off. Maybe Dick Smith would've started one, but he'd have us flying in GAF Nomads.
I had a return ticket from Sydney to Perth & back just a day or two after they collapsed in 2001. I got my money for the ticket eventually back through the Credit Card provider, but that took about 3 months. The Frequent Flyer Points I had accumulated prior to that planned trip under Ansett & Singapore Airlines were lost. Thousands of points. Ironic that the collapse occurred just days after 911....but Ansett was already beset with troubles, in the aftermath of 911 they would've floundered anyway. Lost money on accommodation & car rental, that was irrecoverable.
I flew on Ansett in 1995 from HKG-SYD & BNE to CNS.
I miss Ansett as they were a good company with excellent customer service and I never had anything bad to say about them.
Hopefully someone may buy them again but maybe that's all but impossible now given the length time that has past.
I like your photo.
Flew on the second last service. Still have all my bag tags etc somewhere..
Chris Rosie1 flew on the last ever MEL-ADL service, have the ticket stub somewhere
@@boratisgod we didn't actually know the airline was closing down. Wasn't until the crew thanked us as we were disembarking and told us it would be the last time.
Cheers DJ
love how the video is way blurry. i remember watching the ads of ansett in the 90's.
0:41 Sir Laptop isn't this the Route 66 theme from Overwath? lmao
I love that u use the old abc video music Brings back memories
Used to Fly Sydney to Kuala Lumper regularly with Ansett in the mid 90s
Ansett was Star Alliance’s main carrier in Oceania beside Air NZ.
Star might lose another member in the next few weeks as South Africa is cutting out South African Airways’ funding and they’re laying off all staff
Ansett NZ may have started with B737-100 but, they ended up with a fleet of BAe 146 Whisper Jets which were quad engined, high wing aircraft.
another thing that didnt help ansett was their total lack of management of the air freight side , it was seen as open check book and zero accountability , basically it was a bludge job i remember every time i went to ansett air freight terminal at kingsford smith in sydney the forkies would be out in the open in a group just sitting around smoking ( you could do that back in those days ) and talking and there would be only 1 forkie unloading the trucks , this meant freight rarely made the planes they were intended for and the delays and lines were at one point worse than port botany ( if you ever have been stuck down there you know you can waste an entire day without hauling a single thing ) and management didnt seem to care , it was sad because i flew ansett a few times and i used to really like it although i preferred australian i just remember the both being way better than qantas , i basically only fly virgin or rex now
This practice still is still alive and well at Qantas.
@@ljp1942 i have a friend that works for caterair she reckons qantas will be emerates soon
@@ljp1942 Qantas were very poor back when they were TAA, and still are. I think this bloke is mixed up with Ansett Freight Express.
Well done.
Great music.. Adagio for Strings
Good stuff. Sub'd.
In 8 years someone wanna come and renew this dead and forever lost company
Tyrell McSwain absolutely I'm in
What is the name of the song... 6.00 minutes into the clip?
I remember taking off in one of the Boeing's just before they were grounded. It was shaking and rattling like crazy. Whole plane was vibrating.
I thought it went they couldn't afford to repair them, and with the loss of revenue from the grounded planes that was finally the end?
ofc the tax payers footed the final bill, it's not like those responsible for the collapse would be held accountable :/
Should've been NZ taxpayers since their government was dumb enough to let their national carrier acquire Ansett with delusions of grandeur!
Have their historical paperwork, Films and Photos been saved by a School or library?
They had such a long history for all that to be lost.
I enjoyed the video immensely with the exception of the narrators voice, a lower modulated version of DJ's aviation.
Totally sounds like him...
Hahaha. I never thought I'd have my voice compared to DJ's Aviation.. thanks again for enjoying this video. - SL
A study? More like a narration of the wikipedia page...
Nathan Skilling
Yep.
Beat me to it
Hey man, did you ever go to xerts in darling harbour back when that existed, i dont think it exists anymore but i remember it being a big thing for kids back in the early 2000s-2005ish
Let's do a GoFundMe, get this man a good mic, his video's are gold!!
And some elocution lessons. Am not sure which airline Kwanas is.
Nah fuck him
I saw scrapped ansett aircraft when I was working in Mojave. I now know how they got there!
They also owned the 0-10 TV network, which Murdoch wanted to control. This is a big reason behind Newscorp owning a large slice
I wold like to see annset be reluch as a low cost airline
They have a romance to their name like PanAm were you think of their grand history.
A lot better than being on a packed flight were it's entire history is misery.
Note the illustrated advertisement of the plane over Sydney Harbour with no Opera House because it was still a tram depot back then.
A bit obscure. But could you do a video on what happened to Roller City? They were a roller skate indoor rink franchise. They had an ad on TV with the line" get your feet on wheels, now you really roller skate, roller, roller city!" I used to roller skate there every Saturday from about 1983 to about 1985. Do they still exist? I haven't seen them advertise ever. There seems to be some "roller city" places still in Australia. I don't know if it's the same franchise. In any case they don't seem to have ever reached the heights of public cut through of the 80's.
Hello! Excellent video and definitely well written and researched with fantastic supporting photos/videos. To help grow your You Tube channel you will need to invest in better sound equipment/a higher quality microphone. The microphone that you're currently using has a static/blurry type sound that isn't crystal clear like what you will need to grow your channel. Also, be VERY careful about what songs/tunes you use in the background of your videos as these are subject to copyright. I could hear a few tunes which I suspect are restricted to copyright. I'm from Brisbane so 100% want you to succeed and do well on You Tube! You're doing amazingly well so far, but still, have a couple of things to address. All the best! Cheers.
i visited the st reginalds transport musuem i wanted to know more about this since then
Thumbs up for not playing enya!