Dispute over, so Whisper jets off to Oz

By DANIEL RIORDAN

Air New Zealand has settled its legal stoush with Tasman Pacific (alias Qantas NZ) and is sending the eight British Aerospace Whisper jets (BAe146) it had been leasing to the failed airline across the ditch to join Ansett Australia's fleet.

Air NZ repossessed its jets the day its domestic rival went into receivership three weeks ago.

Seven of them are sitting in an Air New Zealand compound at Auckland Airport and the eighth is in Christchurch, where it had been awaiting maintenance on a damaged nose wheel.

Although it had the jets, Air NZ had to go to court to obtain their maintenance records and spare parts.

A deed of mortgage between Ansett NZ and Air NZ subsidiary Ansett Australia, dated March 24 last year, and held on Tasman Pacific's file at the Companies Office, lists $11 million of spare parts.

Air NZ spokesman David Beatson said the dispute was settled last week "to both parties' satisfaction" and terminated in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

Air NZ now has the maintenance records and the spares.

Issues involving a part-mortgage on a smaller Dash 8 aircraft leased to Qantas NZ had also been resolved.

Mr Beatson said it did not make sense to fly the jets here, even in the short term, to help ease the pressure on Air NZ capacity following the demise of Qantas NZ.

Air NZ had neither the necessary maintenance nor flight crew training facilities. Establishing those facilities and training staff for the jets would take at least three months.

Instead the airline will bring more efficient Boeing 737s across from Ansett to fly here alongside its existing 737s.

Qantas NZ, and before it Ansett NZ, leased the Whisper jets from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services, an arrangement dating from Ansett NZ's start-up in 1987 before Air NZ owned Ansett Australia.

The leases, believed to be for 10 years and worth about $60 million, were a big factor in Qantas Airways' decision not to buy its NZ franchise. They were costing Qantas NZ $2 million a month when it went into receivership.

The 90-seat Whisper jets - as their name suggests - may have been welcomed by anyone living close to airports, but they proved a real handicap to their operator Qantas NZ, and before it Ansett NZ.

The jets were expensive to fly and costly to maintain compared with Air NZ's 130-seater Boeing 737s which provide an estimated 20 to 25 per cent lower seat-kilometre cost.

A comment by a Qantas NZ manager in an analysis of the airline's performance for January, focusing on the Wellington-Christchurch route, said the Whisper jet "continues to perform poorly, dragging down the whole sector with it.

"Whilst Air NZ continues to operate their B737 on this sector, we will continue to be the second choice by travellers."

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