Airline ready for take-off

By GEOFF SENESCALL

The makeover for Ansett NZ is almost complete, reports Geoff Senescall.

Ansett New Zealand's new owners are believed to be still on track to launch their new airline this month with a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign.

Despite rumours of delays, the airline is understood to be close to unveiling a new livery and name, which was decided at a board meeting a week ago.

Four of the names under review at that meeting were: Tasman Pacific, Triple Star, South Pacific Airways of New Zealand and Qantas New Zealand.

While a close arrangement with Qantas is likely, Ansett New Zealand's new management earlier ruled out the Australian airline as a potential shareholder.

Whatever the name, the relationship between the two airlines is expected to be strong, especially after recent events.

When the consortium announced its purchase of Ansett New Zealand in late March, Qantas was embroiled in a battle with Singapore Airlines to buy into Air New Zealand.

This put doubt over any agreement with Ansett New Zealand.

However, Singapore Airlines has since landed the purchase of a shareholding from Brierley Investments, taking its stake in Air New Zealand to 25 per cent and effectively putting Qantas out of the frame.

Over the past few weeks negotiations with Qantas have gathered pace and this was confirmed in a memo to Ansett New Zealand staff.

Talks with Qantas have involved issues such as aircraft-leasing arrangements, frequent flyer, code-share and check-in agreements, and common passenger lounge use.

In the advertising campaign, Saatchi & Saatchi will highlight the fact that the airline is principally New Zealand-owned while its competitor, Air New Zealand, is not.

The consortium of new owners of Ansett New Zealand was put together by Auckland merchant banking firm Clavell Capital and its principal, David Belcher.

The shareholders are Sir Clifford Skeggs, Alan Gibbs, Trevor Farmer, Chris Coon, Ian Hendry, Greg Lancaster and chairman Ken Cowley.

Mr Cowley is the only Australian in the consortium.

While $48 million is believed to have been raised, only $36 million has been drawn down.

It is understood that $30 million of this was used to buy the airline from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.