East-West Airlines (Australia)
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| Founded | 1947 | |||
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| Ceased operations | 1993 | |||
| Headquarters | Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia | |||
| Key people | Bryan Grey | |||
East-West Airlines was an Australian regional airline founded in Tamworth, New South Wales in 1947. It operated to major regional city-centres and connected these centres to various provincial capitals, and by the 1980s it was Australia's third largest domestic airline.[1] It also carried out its own heavy maintenance in Tamworth and operated a network of Travel Centres.
History
East-West Airlines was founded in 1947 with funds from about 800 mainly small investors with the aim to "fight the city based airline monopolies" and traded forthwith as an unlisted public company. It grew in the following years from an intrastate operator to Australia's third largest domestic carrier which owned by 1982 ten Fokker aircraft. By that time East-west was also about to acquire its first jet aircraft. It was however still reeling from a venture into the Northern Territory in 1980, which incurred heavy losses. This caused also a falling out among board members.[2] East-West, already in 1981 in an era still governed by the Two Airlines Policy, became the first "third" carrier operating between Sydney and Canberra.[3]
Bryan Grey a former airline executive with Ansett and Air Niugini formed early 1982 in Sydney together with former Citicorp Australia merchant banking executive Duke Minks, East-West Development Pty. Ltd., which had own assets of AUD 50,000, with the specific purpose to acquire East-West Airlines. With a loan of AUD 8.5 million from the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust they purchased East-West in a share buy-out. The take over was deemed controversial, as discussions queried how far the involvement of Nauruan capital constituted quasi a foreign takeover.[4]
In the following years East-West competed vigorously with major airlines Ansett and Australian Airlines on inter-capital routes. The Australian aviation industry was highly regulated at the time under the Two Airlines Policy, which prevented East-West from flying directly between major capital cities, so they instead offered services between major cities via regional centres. Routes included Melbourne to Sydney via Albury or Sydney to Brisbane via Newcastle and Coolangatta. East-West primarily flew Fokker F27 prop-jets and F28 jets but would eventually operate larger Boeing 737-300 aircraft for passenger operations and Boeing 727-200s for cargo interests. East-West sold in June 1983 return tickets between Sydney and Melbourne via Albury, which took about two hours 45 minutes, for AUD 120, which was about half of the standard fare of AUD 248 for direct flights by the duopoly carriers, taking one hour 15 minutes. However, also Ansett and TAA offered discounted fares down to around AUD 140. According to Brian Grey the service attracted about 4000 customers per month.[5]
Because of its operating structure, East-West was able to significantly undercut other airlines. East West Airlines aggressive "Third Airline" campaign forced the Australian Government to eventually scrap the Two Airline Policy. The Hawke-lead Labor Government worked to protect the anti-competitive agreement which had kept Australian air fares seemingly inflated for many years.
Managing Director Bryan Grey along with marketing consultant John Williams created a massive nationwide media campaign and thus attracted many first time flyers with what could be described as Australia's first truly discounted fares in a now deregulated arena. East West set the scene for other airlines to enter the Australian domestic market years later.[citation needed]
In December 1983 East-West was sold, for A$20 to 30 million according to estimates, to Perth-based Skywest Holdings Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Griffin Holdings which was belonged to the Western Australian entrepreneur Robert Frederick "Ric" Stowe, who made his fortune with coal mining, which also owned Skywest Airlines. In particular the NSW government opposed the deal.[6][7] Former owner Bryan Grey should in 1990 field the short-lived Compass Airlines as first entrant into a then deregulated domestic aviation market.
Under the new ownership East-West was retained as an independent entity. Skywest Holdings announced in May 1985 to fully merge both Skywest Airlines and East-West, but this was not carried out bar some harmonisation of timetables.[7] In 1985 East-West commenced proceedings to challenge at the Federal Court the Two Airline Policy.[8]
Mid July 1987 East-West and Skywest were sold to formally, to circumvent possible issues with government regulations, to the Perth car dealer Perron Group which sold them by the end of the month on to Bodas Pty Ltd, a company set up by Ansett's owners, Sir Peter Abeles' TNT and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation for a reported AUD 150 million.[8][9] It continued to operate as a separate entity until 1993 when its operations were fully merged into Ansett.
It should be noted, that the deregulation took place under Prime Minister Bob Hawke who held office between 1983 and 1991. The government was owner of Trans Australia Airlines and the Prime Minister maintained a personal friendship with Ansett's owner Sir Peter Abeles, knighted in 1972.
Accidents and incidents
- On Wednesday 12 October 1949 an East-West Airlines Avro Anson plane crashed just after taking off from Tamworth. Four passengers escaped injury. The pilot, Captain John Lachlan Rentell, 35, had his right foot partly severed at the ankle, sustained internal injuries and deep wounds to the face and arms. He avoided a tree by turning the machine into a steep bank, headed north-west towards his best clearance and then turning south put the plane down. Aerodrome mechanics observed that the engines sounded sluggish and did not appear to be picking-up properly.[10]
- On 5 December 1950, an East-West Airlines Avro Anson crashed at Zanatta's property in Pozieres, in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland. The plane was en route from Eagle Farm Airport (Brisbane) to Armidale Airport when one engine caught fire, filling the cockpit with smoke. The aircraft suffered extensive damage on impact, although the pilot and two passengers were unharmed.[11]
- On 4 November 1957, an East-West Douglas DC-3 with 27 people on board took off from Sydney Airport en route to Tamworth Airport. When the aircraft reached a height of 61 metres (200 feet), the No.1 engine began to backfire and lose power. The pilot tried to shut down the faulty engine, but mistakenly shut down the working No.2 engine. The pilot tried to return to the airport for an emergency landing, but the plane had lost too much height. It crashed into a lake approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) north of the airport, with a depth of 4 metres (13 feet) of water, 46 metres (150 feet) from the nearest bank. All 27 people on board survived.[12]
- On 31 May 1974, a F27 Fokker Friendship departed Orange Airport and was making a nighttime approach to Bathurst Airport in turbulent and rainy conditions. Just before reaching the runway threshold, at an altitude of approximately 67 metres (220 feet), the pilots realised the aircraft had drifted too far to the left of the runway centre line to make a safe landing, so they decided to initiate a go-around. However, the aircraft encountered a sudden downdraft, and due to its altitude being too low to effect a recovery, the rear fuselage impacted the ground heavily, just outside the boundary of the flight strip. The aircraft slid 625 metres (2050 feet) along the ground, ripping the starboard engine off the wing. The passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft, and all survived.[12]
Historical Fleet
- 3 - Lockheed Hudson (converted to civil transports)[13]
- 8 - Douglas DC-3
- 20 - Fokker F27 Friendship
- 9 - Fokker F28 Fellowship
- 2 - Boeing 727-277(F)
- 3 - Boeing 737-200
- 1 - de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
- 8 - BAe 146-300[14]
References
- ↑ "East-West Takeover: Howard Clears Air". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 July 1982. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ↑ John O'Hara: How Nauru is flying in our back door, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 July 1982, p. 1.
- ↑ Hunt welcomes competition, The Age, 15 October 1981, p. 14
- ↑ John O'Hara: Govt problem with an island's aviation aims, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 July 1982, p. 6.
- ↑ Peter Hartcher: Govt likely to stop cheap flights, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 June 1983
- ↑ Cheaper fares after big deal, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 December 1983
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Skywest Airlines, Museum of Australian Commercial Aviation (per 20 February 2012)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 John Masanauskas: East-West drops air deregulation bid, The Age, 3 September 1987
- ↑ Graham Reilly: Turbulence on the tarmac, The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 December 1989, p. 11.
- ↑ The Canberra Times, Thursday 13th October 1949. 'Crash Of Avro Anson At Tamworth" — Trove Digitised Newspapers —
- ↑ "Plane on fire lands safely". The Canberra Times. 6 December 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "ASN Aviation Safety Database". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
- ↑ "East-West Airlines: The Hudson Era". Retrieved 27 December 2010.
- ↑ Airlines Remembered by BI Hengi, Publisher Midland Publishing
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to East-West Airlines. |
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