Reg Ansett
Encyclopedia
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(13 February 1909 – 23 December 1981) was an Australian businessman and aviator; best known for founding Ansett Transport Industries Limited, which owned one of Australia's two leading domestic airlines between 1957 and 2001. He also established a number of other business enterprises including nsett Pioneer coachlines, Ansett Freight Express, Ansair coachbuilders, Gateway Hotels, Diner's Club Australia, Biro Bic Australia and the ATV-0
ATV-10
ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network Ten - one of the three major Australian commercial television networks.-History:...
television station in Melbourne and TVQ-0 in Brisbane which later became part of Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
. ATI also bought out Avis Rent-a-Car and had a 50 per cent interest in Associated Securities Limited (ASL). In late 1979, mainly due to the collapse of ASL, Ansett lost control of the company to Sir Peter Abeles
Peter Abeles
Sir Peter Emil Herbert Abeles, AC was an Australian transportation magnate. A refugee from Hungary, he became one of the most powerful businessmen in Australia, and was knighted in 1972.-Life:...
of TNT and Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
of News Corporation who became joint managing directors.
Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
has named one of their Airbus A380
Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world. Due to its size, many airports had to modify and improve facilities to accommodate it...
s after Ansett in recognition of his contribution to the aviation industry.
Early career
Reginald Myles Ansett was born at Inglewood, VictoriaInglewood, Victoria
Inglewood is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Calder Highway, in the Shire of Loddon. At the 2006 census, Inglewood had a population of 834...
, on 13 February 1909. His father owned a garage before World War I when he enlisted in the AIF. After the war, Ansett's father established a knitting factory in Camberwell
Camberwell, Victoria
Camberwell is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Camberwell had a population of 19,637....
and Ansett gained qualifications as a knitting-machine mechanic at Swinburne Technical College. He was an enthusiastic private pilot, having obtained his licence in 1926 (No. 419).
However, Ansett went north to work as an axeman in a Northern Territory survey team. For a time he entertained the idea of buying land in the territory to grow peanuts. He found himself unemployed when the Commonwealth government cut off the funds for the survey. On returning to Victoria in December 1931, with his savings he purchased a second-hand Studebaker and began a service car operation between Ballarat
Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...
and Maryborough
Maryborough, Victoria
-Education:Maryborough has three schools:*Highview Christian Community College*Maryborough Education Centre Years Prep–12*St Augustine's Primary School Grades Prep–6-Music:...
carrying passengers and small items of freight. When this proved uneconomic, he switched the Ansett Motors operation to a Ballarat to Hamilton service. The wealthy graziers of Victoria's western district proved to be a much better market. Within a few years he had a small fleet of service cars operating to towns in western Victoria.
Ansett Airways 1936-1946
By 1935, Ansett Motors and other operators was proving a thorn in the side of Victorian Railways, taking both passenger and freight revenue. The Victorian Transport Minister and Attorney General Robert MenziesRobert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
pushed a bill through the state parliament prohibiting service cars from competing with Victorian Railways
Rail transport in Victoria
Rail transport in Victoria, Australia, is provided by a number of railway operators who operate over the government-owned railway lines. Victorian lines use broad gauge, with the exception of a number of standard gauge freight and interstate lines, a few experimental narrow gauge lines, and...
slashing Ansett Motors' revenue overnight. Looking around for an alternative, Ansett decided to try an air service. What made this attractive was that air services were controlled by the Commonwealth government, so the state could not intervene.
On 16 February 1936 Ansett Airways Pty Limited inaugurated its first service, from Hamilton
Hamilton, Victoria
Hamilton is a city in western Victoria, Australia. It is located at the intersection of the Glenelg Highway and the Henty Highway...
to Melbourne using a diminutive six-seater Fokker F.XI Universal. The flights operated daily each way, Monday to Friday. The service was a modest success and the Fokker was joined by an Airspeed A.6 Envoy. To help boost his funds, Ansett entered and won the Brisbane to Adelaide air race in 1936. On weekends he took the Universal on barnstorming tours of Victoria giving joyflights to paying customers.
To fund its expansion, Ansett listed the company on the Melbourne Stock Exchange on 14 April 1937, offering 250 000 shares at £1 ($2) each. A base, including a flying school, was established in a hangar at Melbourne's Essendon Airport
Essendon Airport
Essendon Airport is located at Essendon, in Melbourne's northern suburbs, Victoria, Australia. It is located next to the Tullamarine Freeway on , from the Melbourne Central Business District and from Melbourne Airport.-History:...
. Ansett found selling the shares hard going. A number of aircraft crashes, notably the loss of Airlines of Australia's Stinson in southern Queensland in 1937, had dampened public enthusiasm for airline investments. Underwriters refused to handle the float so Ansett had to find investors himself. It was a difficult time but he eventually interested enough wealthy individuals in the western district.
Needing new aircraft, Ansett ordered three Lockheed L.10A Electras
Lockheed Model 10 Electra
The Lockheed Model 10 Electra was a twin-engine, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2...
. Under the Empire Preference Scheme, aircraft from Britain could be imported duty free; Aircraft from anywhere else paid import duties. Ansett Airways Limited had posted a £30 000 ($60 000) loss in its first year and its shares had halved in value. Ansett's bankers refused to advance the money to pay Lockheed £50 000 ($100 000) for the Electras which were being held in bond awaiting payment of £14 000 ($28 000) in duty. Ansett's first priority was to get the aircraft released, so he lobbied T W White, Minister for Customs in the Lyons government. He argued there was no British equivalent aircraft available and that British airlines had ordered them for their own fleets. White accepted the argument and the duty was waived.
To pay Lockheed, Ansett went back to the banks who agreed to finance the purchase providing Ansett's wealthy grazier investors guaranteed the loan. The investors backed him, but at the price of Ansett handing over most of his personal shares in Ansett Airways.
Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways
Australian National Airways was Australia's predominant carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.-The Holyman Airways Period:On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.II VH-UEE Miss Launceston between Launceston, Tasmania and Flinders...
(ANA), the major Australian airline at the time, headed by Ivan Holyman and backed by five British shipping companies, made a takeover bid for Ansett in 1938. While Holyman did not take Ansett Airways seriously, he was attempting to create a major airline monopoly in Australia. Ansett was one more opponent to be eliminated by takeover. At this stage Ansett Airways shares had dropped to 8s (80 cents). The Ansett chairman Ernest O'Sullivan was a banker with no experience in the airline business. When Holyman offered 9s (90 cents) per share for Ansett Airways, he and the board of directors jumped at it. Determined not to lose his fledgling business, Ansett called an extraordinary meeting of shareholders. In the heated confrontation he convinced enough shareholders to back him and the bid failed. O'Sullivan resigned on the spot.
No sooner was this battle won that Ansett Airways came close to disaster. On 22 February 1939 a fire broke out in the Essendon hangar. The Fokker Universal and one of the Electras were destroyed. Surveying the wreckage in the light of day, Ansett told his staff he was determined to continue. By the end of 1939 Ansett Airways was flying from Melbourne to Adelaide via Mildura and Renmark; from Sydney to Adelaide via Mildura and Broken Hill and Melbourne to Sydney via Narrandera. The company also continued with the original Melbourne-Hamilton service. Ansett Airways receiving subsidy payment of £16 000 ($32 000) per annum from the Commonwealth government.
World War II was a time of boundless opportunities for Ansett. In 1942 he abandoned all his airline routes except Melbourne-Hamilton and concentrated on performing engineering work and charter flights for the US Army Air Corps. The Essendon hangar was expanded and by war's end the tiny Ansett organisation was employing around 2000 people. The Ansett organization finished the war flush with cash but facing trouble trying to regain its airline routes which had been taken over by ANA.
In 1943, the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation released a discussion paper Post-war Reorganization: Proposal Outline of a Plan for Civil Aviation. The Curtin Labor government was developing plans for various nationalized industries when the war ended. One industry in their sights was the airlines. Apart from the USA, most countries had adopted a policy of state ownership of airlines. On 22 December 1944, acting prime minister Frank Forde announced the government would legislate to nationalize all interstate airlines. Their prime target was Australian National Airways (ANA). Following the passage of the Australian National Airlines Acton 16 August 1945 the private enterprise airlines mounted a challenge in the High Court. When this was successful the government changed its strategy and formed the Australian National Airlines Commission which was to operate as Trans Australia Airlines, competing directly with ANA.
Reg Ansett married twice. From his first marriage, to Grace, he had two sons, John and Robert (Bob). After their divorce Grace took the boys to live in the USA. He married Joan Adams in 1944 and they adopted three daughters, Jane Janet and Jill. The new family lived on the Ansett estate at Mount Eliza
Mount Eliza, Victoria
Mount Eliza is an outer suburb south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is in the Local Government Area of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula...
. From the early 1960s Ansett travelled to and from the office by helicopter each day, a remarkable thing to do in the days when few Australian CEOs even had chauffeured cars. Bob Ansett returned from the USA in the 1970s to establish Budget Rent a Car
Budget Rent a Car
Budget Rent a Car System, Inc. is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget's operations are headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills Township, New Jersey....
, however Reg Ansett never acknowledged his son's presence in Australia. In later years they were to become bitter business rivals when Ansett Transport Industries purchased Avis Rent-a-Car.
Postwar Expansion 1946-1956
Faced with being caught in the middle of a titanic struggle between Australian National Airlines and the new government owned airline, Ansett offered to sell Ansett Airways to the Commonwealth government as a going concern. Although the idea had some attraction to the Chifley government, nothing came of the proposed deal. Ansett decided to continue his airline business while building up the Ansett Motors side.As he gradually obtained new routes out of Melbourne, Ansett made the decision to position Ansett Airways as a low cost competitor offering no-frills flights between the major capitals. He cut the standard fare being offered by ANA and Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) by 20 per cent. Douglas DC-3 aircraft normally seated 21 passengers, three abreast. Ansett installed narrower seats to create a four abreast 28 passenger layout. There was little in the way of catering or other amenities. The strategy was a success, although TAA quickly adopted the lower price he was offering. ANA ignored him and suffered for it. TAA, realizing there was money to be made from it, equipped a number of its aircraft with Tourist Class seating.
Both the coachline and road freight businesses were highly successful businesses and by 1962, Pioneer Coaches was running 245 buses throughout the country. In 1956, Ansett established an airfreight business using Carvair nose-loading aircraft.
Ansett was the first Australian airline to move into the package holiday
Package holiday
A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via charter airline to a foreign country...
business. In 1947, Ansett started offering services to resorts on the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
using Catalina flying boats
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...
. These services established the Great Barrier Reef as a destination for tourists.
Takeover and consolidation of ANA 1957-1969
On 18 January 1957, Sir Ivan Holyman, managing director of ANA, died at Honolulu. ANA had only kept going because of Holyman's determination not to give up. The five British shipping companies that owned the airline had been trying to get out for several years. The ANA board tried to get the Commonwealth to buy the airline and merge it with TAA, however, their asking price was considered ludicrous.Reg Ansett saw his opportunity. He made an offer of £3 million ($6 million) which the ANA board promptly rejected. Questions were asked about where Ansett would obtain the funds. There were stories about backing from two major oil companies. Finally, the ANA board, desperate by this time, accepted a new Ansett offer, 10 per cent above his original bid. The ailing ANA operation was taken over by Ansett Transport Industries to create a new national airline: Ansett-ANA. Ansett was now in the big time, but he still had to make Ansett-ANA competitive with the government airline, TAA, which was much better managed and had a superior aircraft fleet.
Ansett acquired ANA's fleet of Douglas DC-6
Douglas DC-6
The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with the Lockheed Constellation in the long-range...
's and acquired six Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...
s in order to better compete with TAA. After the acquisition, Reg Ansett suddenly became a firm supporter of the two-airline policy. It became more restrictive after the passage of the Airlines Equipment Act in 1958 prescribing what aircraft each airline could buy and much else besides. Reg Ansett had advocated the act to stop TAA from buying French Caravelle aircraft which would have been the first jets imported into Australia.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Ansett purchased a number of regional airlines including MacRobertson Miller, Guinea Airways, and Butler Air Transport
Butler Air Transport
Butler Air Transport was a limited liability company created by Cecil Arthur Butler to operate air transport primarily among New South Wales airports in Australia, from 1934 until 1959.-History:...
. Ansett also offered services to New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. In 1964, Reg Ansett would import the first Boeing 727
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
's following a coin toss with the managing director of TAA as to which company would import them first. In 1968, Reg Ansett changed the name of Ansett-ANA to Ansett. By 1969, Ansett had become Australia's leading domestic airline and its market share would rise as high as 55%.
ATV-10
ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network Ten - one of the three major Australian commercial television networks.-History:...
, starting constructing studios in Nunawading
Nunawading, Victoria
Nunawading is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 19 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Whitehorse...
a few months later. ATV-0's first official broadcast was on 1 August 1964. Ansett expanded his television interests to become a major shareholder in Universal Telecasters, licencees of TVQ-0
TVQ-10
TVQ is the Brisbane television station of Network Ten in Australia.The channel was allocated channel 0 on the VHF band and was launched on 1 July 1965 as TVQ-0...
Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, in 1965 and buying out the station entirely in 1970.
Reg Ansett was knighted in 1969. At that point, he was managing director of Australia's biggest airline and the biggest transport company in the southern hemisphere. Because of its regional services, Ansett was the world's biggest operator of Fokker Friendship
Fokker F27
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.-Design and development:Design of the Fokker F27 started in the 1950s as a replacement to the successful Douglas DC-3 airliner...
s.
Challenges in the 1970s
In 1972, Peter Abeles' Thomas Nationwide Transport launched a takeover bid for Ansett Transport Industries. This bid was thwarted with the assistance of Victorian Premier Sir Henry BolteHenry Bolte
Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG was an Australian politician. He was the 38th and longest serving Premier of Victoria.- Early years :...
. This was due to both a longstanding friendship between Bolte and Reg Ansett and that Bolte was keen to save a Victorian company from being taken over by a NSW firm. After Bolte's retirement, he would become a director of Ansett Transport Industries.
Reg Ansett's views on women in aviation were widely viewed as sexist. He once described stewardesses over 30 as old boilers and claimed that women were unsuitable to be pilots because of their menstrual cycles. In the 1970s, Deborah Jane Wardley took the company to the Victorian Equal Opportunity Board for discrimination. Wardley was a charter pilot who claimed that she was better qualified to be hired than other male pilots that had been hired. Ansett claimed that they hadn't discriminated against her because she was a woman but because she had the potential to fall pregnant. On 29 June 1979, the Equal Opportunity Board ruled in favour of Wardley and directed that Ansett should recruit her at the next intake. In November 1979 Wardley started work but the company tried to find cause to dismiss her before the airline tried to dismiss her.
In late 1979, Abeles and Rupert Murdoch launched a successful takeover of Ansett Transport Industries. Under the new management structure, Abeles and Murdoch would be joint managing directors with Reg Ansett as chairman. Murdoch would take over ATV-0
ATV-10
ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network Ten - one of the three major Australian commercial television networks.-History:...
and merge with TEN-10
TEN-10
TEN is the callsign of Network Ten's flagship Sydney television station. It was originally owned and operated by United Telecasters Sydney Limited , and began transmission on 5 April 1965 with the highlight of the opening night being the variety special TV Spells Magic.-History:TEN often lagged in...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
to effectively give him control of what is now the Ten Network. Abeles would merge the freight operations with TNT and run the airline.
In 1980, Ansett sold TVQ-0
TVQ-10
TVQ is the Brisbane television station of Network Ten in Australia.The channel was allocated channel 0 on the VHF band and was launched on 1 July 1965 as TVQ-0...
to a joint venture between petrol company Ampol
Ampol
Ampol, the Australian Motorists Petrol Company, was incorporated by Sir William Gaston Walkley in 1936 in New South Wales. This was in response to Australians' concerns about perceived inequitable petrol pricing, and allegations of transfer pricing by foreign oil companies to limit their tax...
and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
radio station 2SM
2SM
2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, New South Wales, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group...
.
Reg Ansett died on 23 December 1981. Ansett went bankrupt in 2001 following a series of poor management decisions by the Abeles-Murdoch duopoly and later owners Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
. Respected aviation writer Tom Ballantyne said in 2002: While Sir Reg Ansett laid the groundwork for a national icon, Sir Peter Abeles took it by the scruff of the neck and laid the groundwork for disaster.