NZ flyers stranded in Ansett jet crisis

By CHRIS DANIELS and AGENCIES

Passengers on a flight from Auckland to Los Angeles had to switch airlines at the last minute and were delayed for several hours after Air New Zealand sent one of its 747 jets across the Tasman to help its troubled subsidiary Ansett Australia.

Although Air New Zealand said moving planes to Australia would cause little disruption to passengers, 170 people on the flight had to wait up to five hours to catch other planes.

Air New Zealand is trying to help its wholly owned subsidiary, which is struggling to cope with peak Easter demand while all 10 of its Boeing 767s are grounded by safety authorities.

Chief executive Gary Toomey, who flew to Melbourne from New Zealand on Sunday night, said Ansett New Zealand would relaunch its brand and buy new aircraft after it resolved all its safety woes.

"This is a setback, but it is consistent with the need for us just to relaunch the whole airline."

He said leasing planes from other airlines and booking seats on other aircraft had cost $2.4 million so far and would cost $600,000 a day.

Ansett Australia has 42,000 passengers booked to fly today, but few problems are expected, with leased and chartered planes taking up the routes the 767s would normally fly.

Only one Australian domestic flight was delayed yesterday.

The airline's ageing Boeing 767s are still awaiting clearance from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority before they can take off.

A May 4 deadline for Ansett Australia to prove it is safe, or be shut down entirely, is still in force.

The last-minute withdrawal of flight NZ6 on Sunday meant passenger Michael Somers was forced to spend an extra night in New Zealand. Before he left late last night, he told the Herald that Air NZ's damage control was "very poor indeed" and he would never use the airline again.

Mr Somers was mainly annoyed that he was not warned before his flight was cancelled.

He said check-in counter staff told him to try to get on a later Qantas or United Airlines flight, but, after waiting in a queue for half an hour, he was told both were full.

Airline spokesman Cameron Hill said the 747 was now flying domestic routes in Australia and the decision to cancel the flight to Los Angeles had "been made relatively late in the piece."

He said all the passengers should have been able to catch flights that same day and, after tracking through check-in records, found Mr Somers had been offered a replacement seat but had elected not to fly. That flight was one and a half hours later.

The maximum delay for the other passengers was five hours.

When pressed, Mr Hill conceded the Saturday-night cancellation might have caused "disruption in personal terms" but did not technically count as a disruption within the airline because all passengers, including Mr Somers, could have been flown the same night on other flights.



Mr Toomey said it seemed "a little unfair" that some blamed the present management for the problem.

"We're the ones that have been identifying the problem, grounding the fleet. We've taken the initiative."

Aviation analyst Peter Harbison told the Herald that the safety crisis could not have come at a worse time for Ansett Australia.

Normally, an airline tried to recapture market share by heavy discounting. The recent arrival of two new Australian domestic airlines, Impulse and Virgin Blue, had already driven fares down to an unsustainable level.

Getting the extra money to buy new planes and relaunch will be hard for Air New Zealand, as its share price is at 10-year lows.

It is expected to ask the Government again to allow Singapore Airlines, which already owns a 25 per cent stake, to increase its shareholding, bringing in much-needed capital.

Ansett Australia management were not the only ones spending Easter trying to spread the blame, with claims of dangerous cost-cutting levelled at Australian Governments and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa).

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has repeatedly called for a federal parliamentary inquiry into the effects of recent deregulation.

Union national secretary Doug Cameron said aviation was "plagued by a culture of cost-cutting," which had affected all airlines as well as Casa.

Air New Zealand's engineers yesterday took pains to point out that they should not be blamed for the alleged shortcomings of their Australian counterparts.