The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, September 12th, 2001. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** NEEDED: ONE PUBLIC AIRLINE The jobs of 16,000 Ansett workers hang in the air. Thousands of passengers could lose their tickets and frequent flyer points. The future, if any, of one of Australia's two major airlines is uncertain. The Australian Services Union is calling on the government to intervene and save the airline and the jobs of its workforce. Ansett is reported to be losing $1.8 million a day. Its owners, Air New Zealand, are not in a position to inject the $4 billion or more that are required to refit and make it commercially viable. Private ownership, deregulation, and competition policy along with more recent rises in fuel costs, a weak dollar, and recessed economies around the world have sent the airline to the wall. The private airline has in the past received government support when in difficulty. It was very lucky that Compass Airlines crashed when it did. At the time questions were already being asked about Ansett's future viability. The Hawke Labor Government, on behalf of Ansett, busted the pilots' union. For years the previous owners of Ansett -- Rupert Murdoch and TNT -- milked the airline without putting back the necessary capital. It was a run down airline that was taken over by Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand recently rejected offers from Singapore Airlines, to increase its 25 percent ownership of Air New Zealand to 49 per cent with the injection of $1 billion. The governments of Australia and New Zealand were not enthusiastic because it would lead to a restriction of competition. Now a relieved Singapore Airlines has backed right off as further details of Ansett's woes have emerged. As "The Guardian" goes to press there is talk of Ansett being sold to Qantas for $1! The government encouraged competition between the airlines and the entry of private sector operators. Qantas, formed out of the former publicly owned domestic carrier Australian Airlines and the international carrier Qantas, was put on a corporate footing and privatised, with profits becoming the main objective. Fierce competition led to the demise of smaller regional operators. Compact was squeezed out as the larger airlines were able to sustain losses for longer. More recently Virgin Blue and Impulse entered the sky wars. Impulse has since been bought up by Qantas. Competition may lead to cheaper services in the short term, but eventually results in monopolisation with one or other of the different entities being wiped out or swallowed up. Ansett is now in this situation and Qantas is looking at a virtual monopoly unless someone comes to the rescue. At present Qantas has 54 per cent of the market and Ansett 39 per cent. Virgin Blue has around six per cent. The cost cutting war led to contracting out of "non core" functions such as maintenance, food services and airport services. A number of Ansett's aging 747s were actually grounded at Christmas and Easter because of the airline's failure to carry out the necessary safety procedures. Who knows what the future of Ansett will be? It may be broken up as other airlines pick off the pieces, it might be sold off dirt cheap, and completely taken over by a company like Singapore airlines, or it could be completely dismantled. With Federal elections looming, the Howard Government may come to the rescue, and overlook its policy of non-intervention. None of these measures offer a long-term solution or will prevent future crises in the industry, let alone safeguard the jobs of Ansett's workforce or those at Qantas or other airlines. Competition sounds good in theory but in reality it leads to monopoly with higher monopoly pricing and concentration on the most profitable runs to the neglect of smaller regional and rural areas. There is absolutely no need for more than one airline to service the small population of Australia. It is crazy that there are two or three airlines simultaneously making flights on the same routes with empty seats. The duplication of booking systems, of baggage handling, of accounting and all the other aspects of an airline service is inefficient, costly and completely unnecessary. Far from being cheaper, the competition and privatisation of airlines has resulted in layers and layers of duplication and hoped-for profits, as well as putting into jeopardy thousands of jobs and the safety of passengers. There is only one way to sort this mess out. That is for one national and international publicly owned airline in Australia. ********************************************************** -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
