----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2001 9:38
AM
Subject: [sharechat] AFR Today -"Blame
aimed wrong way"
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!
See IRG research reports
