Forum Archive Index - September 2001

["Gary Wilson - Brisbane" <fastmail@bigpond.net.au>]

Professor J Legge in an article on the AFR's Editorial page comments " ... nearly all the blame (for Ansetts demise) is aimed in the wrong direction.  Australia's competition policy is the main cause."  [This is a theme already touched on in the "Forum".]  As Legge points out "Virgin's entry was not a purely commercial matter" ... and then as he says "The Law of Unintended Consequences" took hold.  Presumably, they did not deliberately conspire to bring Air New Zealand to is knees!?

 

New Zealanders cannot take much comfort from this.  The NZ Governments mindset seems similar.  The difference is the Federal structure of Australia and much greater resources to underwrite bureaucracy and Governmental interference.

 

It is too early to tell whether the lessons will be learnt, but the concept of National airlines belongs to yesterday's world.  If investors and Governments wish to continue to support this concept, there will be more tears in the future.  Air New Zealand may survive as a brand in the longer term, but is unlikely to survive as a small stand alone operator in a global industry dominated by a handful of giants.

 

Let others sink money into the bottomless pit called the airline industry!