16 September 2001

From what has been happening, it sounds like Air New Zealand had been siphoning money out of Ansett by charging fuel and catering costs against the airline and possibly doing so after it knew Ansett was bankrupt. This has caused Ansett workers to call for a boycott of Air NZ, which the NZ PM doesn't like much.

To save money, the .au Government allowed the two domestic airlines (Qantas/Australian Airlines and Ansett) to build the air terminals themselves. At almost every domestic airport in australia, you will see a Qantas half and an Ansett half (usually with different architecture, etc). Separate checkins, separate bagage collection, separate arival/departure gates, etc. Now half of every domestic air terminal is left closed. Those people who happened to own shops inside an Ansett terminal can't open for business. I really hope some of the smaller airlines (such as Virgin) will finally be allowed to use Ansett's space in the domestic terminals, which will allow them to compete more evenly than before (before they often had to use other buildings round the airport or the international airport terminals).

The ACCC is going to toughen the rules for airlines so that this change doesn't make it even more difficult for new airlines to break into the business.

In news on the Tampa refugees, the courts are going to rule on the Government's apeal today.