`disaster' As Ansett Fall Wipes Out 60,000 Jobs

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday March 21, 2002

Linda Doherty

The collapse of Ansett has cost at least 60,000 jobs and was a ``national disaster", an aviation analyst said yesterday.

Ian Thomas, the senior consultant for industry affairs with the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, said as well as 16,000 Ansett employees most of whom have lost their jobs another 50,000 people in associated industries had lost their jobs since the airline's collapse on September 14.

The impact had been felt from small towns to large cities, with jobs lost in tourism, maintenance, engineering, catering, fuel supply and insurance.

``This was not just a corporate collapse, it was a national disaster," Mr Thomas told a seminar at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday.

He said Australia had an opportunity to develop a national strategy for aviation that could reform ad hoc federal and state regulations, integrate Australia and New Zealand's aviation oversight and competition watchdogs, and reinvestigate foreign ownership levels.

Aviation policy had often been characterised by ``gleaming" terminals and runways being suddenly approved in marginal seats that were a ``waste of money".

The role of national airlines needed to be investigated and their domestic and international functions could not be separated. For example, about 75 per cent of Qantas's earnings before the September 11 terrorist attacks and Ansett's collapse came from its international operations.

Even with Qantas now controlling over 80 per cent of the domestic market, Australia's duopoly was more ``realistic" than the situation 12 months ago when four airlines were engaged in a cut-throat battle for market share, he said.

But he warned that Virgin Blue would struggle for long-term viability without an international partner. Mr Thomas said he expected Singapore Airlines to eventually take a stake in the budget carrier and link Virgin to its global alliance structure.

Arguing against the ``crusade" led by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to increase regulation to prevent unfair competition by Qantas, Mr Thomas said such moves would fail without an overall, national structure. ``Competition legislation does not take into account global dynamics," he said.

There had been little benefit for regional travellers from competition before Ansett's collapse as cheap fares were usually available only on major trunk routes or to tourist destinations.

A spokesman for the Transport Minister, John Anderson, said the minister supported the largely deregulated approach to aviation but would investigate the aviation centre's research.

There had been no government studies on how many jobs had been lost since Ansett folded.

The Opposition estimated before the election that the post-Ansett fallout would cause job losses of more than 50,000.

The Opposition transport spokesman, Martin Ferguson, said he supported a more streamlined aviation policy.

``Whilst recognising that there are different responsibilities at a federal and state level for aviation policy, the collapse of Ansett requires more co-operation and a co-ordinated response for sustainable domestic aviation policy," he said.