Passengers stranded as Qantas New Zealand goes into receivership

By HERALD ONLINE STAFF

Struggling domestic airline Qantas New Zealand has been placed in receivership.

Flights on the airline, which is owned by Tasman Pacific Airlines, were stopped at 10.40 pm on Friday night and receivers Michael Stiassny and Grant Graham of Ferrier Hodgson were appointed at 3.25 am Saturday.

Passengers have been stranded around the country as the school holidays come to an end and Mr Stiassny said the first priority was dealing with passengers scheduled to fly with the airline.

5500 passengers were scheduled to fly on Qantas NZ on Saturday, a further 6500 are booked to fly on Sunday.

At Auckland airport, Qantas NZ ticket-holders have been faced with long queues and long delays.

Air New Zealand said it would accept Qantas tickets for travel as Qantas New Zealand's franchisor, Qantas Australia, will honour all tickets.

Spokesperson David Beatson said Air New Zealand had scheduled an extra 20 flights on Saturday to help move about 7,000 Qantas passengers.

An additional 737 flight between Christchurch and Auckland has been scheduled for this afternoon, as well as extra flights between Christchurch and Wellington, Blenheim and Wellington and Nelson and Wellington.

On Sunday, Air New Zealand said it had added 1700 seats to its main trunk schedule and would provide an additional 28 flights on its provincial routes.

The airline is using a larger 767 aeroplane to fly six flights, freeing up the 737 it usually uses for main trunk flights to make an additional eight flights.

Air New Zealand advises passengers to go directly to airport counters to arrange their travel, and Mr Beatson said Qantas NZ ticket-holders should expect up to a five-hour delay.

Origin Pacific will also provide extra flights.

Tasman Pacific Airlines shareholders said they were "deeply disappointed" the airline had been placed in receivership.

Tasman Pacific entered into a franchise relationship with Qantas Australia last June after buying Ansett New Zealand for $36.5 million.

The airline used a fleet of eight 90-seater BAe146 whisper jets, five 40-seat Dash 8-102 aircraft and two 50-seater Dash 8-311s.

The shareholders said the airline had experienced difficult trading conditions in the past year, "directly as a result of the increase in fuel prices and the decrease of the New Zealand dollar."

However, they said they had been positive about the future of Qantas New Zealand, which had been steadily regaining market share.

Over the past few weeks Tasman Pacific had been investigating a range of options to keep the troubled airline flying, including the possibility of investing more in the company or selling the franchise to Qantas Australia.

Qantas broke off negotiations with Tasman Pacfic on Thursday and the shareholders said Wellington Airport's insistence that two months in outstading landing fees be paid immediately, or Qantas planes would be denied permission to land, had made the receivership "inevitable."

However, Wellington Airport chairman, Phil Walker, said the receviership could not be blamed on the airport's decision to demand payment of more than $750,000 it was owed by Tasman Pacific.

"Important questions need to be asked about why the people behind Qantas NZ failed to give it ongoing support, especially given their announcement that they intended to inject further capital, and their apparent ability to do so."

Mr Walker said the airport was not going to stop Qantas NZ flights landing at the airport, but would have withdrawn services such as check-in counters and baggage systems from April 30.

Qantas New Zealand's 1100 workers, including 140 pilots and 180 cabin crew, face an uncertain future after the folding of the airline.

Mr Stiassny said there was "not a lot of good news" for Qantas NZ staff.

"In insolvency we always try to sell it as a going concern ... here, we're looking at an asset sale. We won't be needing the staff for the long term."

He said the preferential maximum due to workers was about $6000 and he doubted there would be more money for workers once Qantas NZ's assets were sold.

He said receivers tried to contact the first shift staff before they started work on Saturday.

"I don't think it was a surprise to them at all.

"The company has been in some difficulty for some time and there have been a lot of rumours about."

However, staff arriving for work on Saturday said they were turned away by security guards and given a notice telling them their services were no longer needed as the airline had been placed in receivership.

* Qantas New Zealand ticketholders can call toll free 0800-747-900 for information.