East-West Airlines (Australia)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

East-West Airlines was an Australian regional airline founded in Tamworth, New South Wales in 1947. It flew between major regional centres and connected regional centres to capital cities. For a period in the 1980s it competed vigorously with major airlines Ansett and Australian Airlines on inter-capital routes. The Australian aviation industry was highly regulated at the time and East-West was not able to fly directly between major capital cities. This was due to the 'Two Airline policy' which protected the two major airlines resulting in a duopoly. East-West did offer services between major cities via regional centres however. Routes included Melbourne to Sydney via Albury or Sydney to Brisbane via Newcastle. East-West was able to significantly undercut the major airlines on price giving them the only real competition they had had for years. East West Airlines "Third Airline" campaign forced the Australian Government to scrap the Two Airline Agreement. The Hawke Labour Government worked hard to protect the anti-competitive agreement which had kept Australian air fares inflated for many years. Managing Director Bryan Grey and marketing consultant John Williams created massive nationwide media coverage and attracted many first time flyers with Australia's first real discount fares. East West set the scene for other airlines to enter the Australian domestic market years later.^{[citation needed]} Grey had been in the management team at Ansett for many years and Williams had been consultant to TAA and Ansett.

The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia.
Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(January 2008)

Daily newspaper cartoonists had a field day as East West flew rings around the two protected species with special offers such as the Golden Oldies pensioner fares.

East-West primarily flew Fokker F27 prop-jets and F28 jets. It was acquired by Ansett in 1987. It continued to operate as a separate entity until 1993 when its operations were absorbed by Ansett.