Trans Australia Airlines

Infobox Airline
airline = Australian Airlines


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IATA = TN
ICAO =
callsign =
founded = 1946
commenced = 1946
ceased = 1993
hubs = Melbourne Airport
secondary_hubs =
focus_cities =
frequent_flyer =
lounge =
alliance =
subsidiaries =
fleet_size =
destinations =
parent = Qantas Airways
company_slogan =
headquarters = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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website =

Trans Australia Airlines or TAA airline codes|TN| | , (renamed Australian Airlines in 1986) was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its sale to Qantas in 1992. During that period TAA played a major part in the development of the Australian air transport industry. The establishment of TAA broke the domestic air transport monopoly of the late 1940s, and TAA's ongoing commitment to purchasing the best available aircraft from the 1950s through to the early 1980s was significant not just for its own fleet but for the entire industry.

The Australian Airlines brand was revived in 2002 to serve the low-cost leisure market of visitors to and from Australia.

Background

Up until World War II, Australia had been one of the world's leading centres of aviation. With its tiny population of about 7 million, Australia ranked sixth in the world for scheduled air mileage, had 16 airlines, was growing at twice the world average, and had produced a number of prominent aviation pioneers, including Lawrence Hargrave, Harry Hawker, Lawrence Wackett, the Reverend John Flynn, Sidney Cotton, Keith Virtue and Charles Kingsford Smith. Governments on both sides of politics, well aware of the immense stretches of uninhabitable desert that separated the small productive regions of Australia, regarded air transport as a matter of national importance (as did the governments of other geographically large nations, such as the Soviet Union and the United States). In the words of Director General of Civil Aviation AB Corbett, "A nation which refuses to use flying in its national life must necessarily today be a backward and defenceless nation." Air transport was encouraged both with direct subsidies and with mail contracts. Immediately before the start of the war, more than half of all airline passenger and freight miles were subsidised.

However, after 1939 and especially after Japan's invasion of the islands to the north in 1941, civil aviation was sacrificed to military needs. By the end of the war, there were only nine domestic airlines remaining, eight smaller regional concerns and Australian National Airways (ANA), a conglomerate owned by British and Australian shipping interests which had a virtual monopoly on the major trunk routes and received 85% of all government air transport subsidies.

The Chifley Government's view was summed up by Minister for Air, Arthur Drakeford: "Where are the great pioneers of aviation? ..... We discover that one by one the small pioneer enterprises are disappearing from the register. It is the inevitable process of absorption by a monopoly." Air transport, the government believed, was primarily a public service, like hospitals, the railways or the post office. If there was to be a monopoly at all, then it should be one owned by the public and working in the public interest.

In August, 1945, only two days after the end of World War II, federal parliament passed the Australian National Airways Bill, which set up the Australian National Airways Commission (ANAC) and charged it with the task of reconstructing the nation's air transport industry. In keeping with the Labor government's socialist leanings, the bill declared that the licenses of private operators would lapse for those routes that were adequately serviced by the national carrier. From this time on, it seemed, air transport in Australia would be a government monopoly. However, a legal challenge, backed by the Liberal opposition and business interests generally, was successful and in December 1945, the High Court ruled that the Commonwealth did not have the power to prevent the issue of airline licenses to private companies. The government could set up an airline if it wished, but it could not legislate a monopoly. The press, always a vociferous opponent of left-leaning governments in Australia, objected strongly to the setting up of a public airline network, seeing it as a form of socialisation by stealth.

Beginnings

With the bill suitably amended to remove the monopoly provisions, the Australian National Airways Commission came into existence in February 1946. The commissioners themselves were prominent high-achievers, including the director-general of civil aviation, the deputy director, a Labor party luminary and former member of the Commonwealth Bank board, the director-general of posts and telegraphs, and the assistant secretary of the Treasury. The Commission was to be chaired by none other than Arthur Coles.

Far from being a Labor Party true believer or a public servant, Coles was one of the richest men in Australia, and the co-founder of a retail empire that remains easily the largest in Australia to this day. Coles had withdrawn from active management of his business in order to use his talents for the public good. He was, to use his own words, "a great believer in competition for business" and would not have accepted the post of Chairman of the ANAC had the monopoly provision been retained.

The Commission decided on the name "Trans Australia Airlines", applied to the Treasury for a preliminary advance of £10,000 and set about making plans, recruiting staff, and purchasing equipment. Reginald Ansett, the wily proprietor of the small Victorian company Ansett Airways was quick to offer to get the new airline off to a flying start by selling his entire operation to the ANAC as a going concern, including (if desired) his own services as managing agent. The asking price, the Commission decided, was optimistic, and Ansett declined a more modest counter offer.

There was considerable correspondence between the Commission and Ivan Holyman, the Chairman of ANA, with a view to recruiting Holyman as General Manager of TAA at the princely salary of £10,000 pa, and, when that offer was declined, of buying the near-monopoly airline outright. Holyman was not willing to sell, nor to work for a government-owned body, but was interested in setting up a "composite company", the details of which proposal remained unclear.

Eventually the ANAC proceeded with the original plan, to build an airline from scratch. One of the first people hired was Lester Brain, then Operations Manager at Qantas,. Brain had 22 years of pioneering aviation experience behind him and was regarded as the man behind Qantas' reputation for technical excellence. He applied for the advertised position of TAA Operations Manager, but to his surprise and delight, was instead offered an appointment as General Manager - though at £3,000 pa, not the £10,000 that had been offered to Holyman.

TAA acquired its first two aircraft in mid-June 1946, both Douglas DC-3s. A dozen more DC-3s would be added over the next few months, all ex-RAAF aircraft originally bought by the Australian Government under lend-lease. In July, the Treasury released £350,000 to allow TAA to order four larger, more modern DC-4s from Douglas in the United States, and Brain appointed John Watkins as Chief Technical Officer. Watkins would become one of the key figures in TAA success. His first task was to travel to the USA to accept delivery of the DC-4s. He later wrote:

:"To my utter astonishment Arthur Coles, after the expected pep-talk about the DC-4 assignment, said he was relying on me to find out what new equipment was being developed that would enable us to offer our passengers a better product than our established rival, at a competitive price."

It was typical of Coles, who knew nothing about aircraft, to reason that quality equipment would be vital, and then select the best man for the job of finding it and be prepared to back his judgement.

At this point, political considerations came to the fore again. TAA planned to start regular services on 7th October, but there was a federal election set for September 28th. Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill had been enormously popular during the darkest hours, but was voted out at the first post-war opportunity. There was no certainty that the Chifley Government would not be treated likewise, and the opposition was opposed to government ownership. Coles addressed the Commission at a meeting on 2nd September 1946.

: "Gentlemen, the Government wants us to start services as soon as possible. There is a Federal election on 28th September. If we don't have an airline up and running by then and Labor loses the election there'll be no airline. We'll be out of a job. Any suggestions?"

After some discussion it was agreed that the airline was not ready. It had a name, some excellent pilots, and some aircraft, but no ground facilities, no sales staff, no documentation, not even tickets. With a great deal of effort, it should be possible to make the planned start date of 7th October. With the discussion complete, Coles said "I have news for you. We start next Monday."

After a week of frantic effort hiring staff, borrowing a tin shed at the RAAF base at Laverton because Essendon Airport had been turned into mud by heavy rain, creating operations manuals, passenger manifests, tickets, and load sheets - even making passenger steps and baggage carts because there was no time to buy them in the ordinary way - Captains Hepburn and Nickels took off from Laverton at 5:45AM bound for Sydney. TAA's first scheduled flight carried a full load of VIPs and just one paying passenger.

Rapid expansion

The subsequent few years led to massive growth for the new airline. As post-war austerity gave way to a more affluent era, Australians were able to travel by air in ever increasing numbers.

Much of the growth in domestic aviation in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was dominated by the rivalry between the privately-owned Ansett-ANA and the government-supported TAA. A major factor in the success of the government airline was the wise choice of aircraft. After initially utilising the venerable Douglas DC3, TAA was able to acquire the revolutionary pressurised Convair 240. Popular with the travelling public because of its ability to fly above much of the weather, it was really this aircraft that established the airline's reputation for excellence and service reliability.

East-coast services were continually expanded and TAA soon earned its title as a true 'trans Australian' airline with services to Perth on the west coast of the continent, using Douglas DC-4 aircraft. Vickers Viscount turboprop aircraft were introduced in the 1950s and again proved immensely popular as a result of their smooth, vibration-free ride.

Although government-owned, the Liberal conservative government of the 1950s had a philosophical leaning towards the needs of the privately owned Ansett airlines and the requirements of TAA suffered as a result. The controversial Two Airlines policy was introduced and effectively seriously limited growth and expansion opportunities for the airlines without government approval.

Flight numbers and schedules were strictly controlled, and TAA and Ansett-ANA invariably had flights departing airports for the same destination at exactly the same time with exactly the same equipment. The policy was so strict that even newly-purchased identical aircraft (one from each airline) were required on their delivery flights to enter Australian airspace at exactly the same time.

The conservative government's benevolent attitude towards Ansett was epitomised in the 1950s when it forced TAA to swap a number of its popular turbo-prop Viscount aircraft with Ansett-ANA in return for slower and older, piston-engined Douglas DC-6s. In another instance, TAA had planned to re-equip with the revolutionary Sud Aviation Caravelle pure-jet but as Ansett felt this was too advanced at that stage for their own needs, both airlines were required to purchase the Ansett preference; the less advanced turbo-prop Lockheed L-188 Electra.

Nonetheless the Electra proved a reliable aircraft and TAA continuously grew and prospered. In the early 1960s it introduced the Boeing 727-100 and Douglas DC-9 as well as the Fokker F27 Friendship for regional routes.

By the late 1960s it had a massive network criss-crossing the continent, as well as an internal network within Papua New Guinea and flights from Darwin to Timor. At this time the airline's livery was the famous white "T" on a blue tail, and one of the more memorable television advertisements of the period was the jingle "Up, Up and away, with TAA, the Friendly Friendly Way". ", whose lyrics and music were a variation on the 1967 song "Up, Up and Away".

Further expansion occurred in the 1970s and larger 727-200s, (simultaneously with Ansett) were acquired. Once again the terms of the introduction were restricted by the two-airline policy.

The policy was marginally relaxed in the early 1980s when TAA was able to introduce the then huge Airbus A300B4, whilst Ansett elected to purchase the Boeing 767. The A300 was a revolutionary aircraft at the time for the domestic airline industry, in that it was a wide-body (twin aisle) aircraft and provided significant extra capacity on the trunk east coast network and to Perth. In 1986, Trans Australia Airlines was controversially rebranded as 'Australian Airlines'.

"Australian Airlines" was the travel partner for "Neighbours", "Wheel of Fortune & Sale Of The Century" between 1988 and Early 1994.

By the end of the 1980s, it was evident the Two-Airline policy had outlived its usefulness and a radical shake-up of the industry was undertaken. A by-product of this impending change was the 1989 Australian pilots' strike. As the result of a prolonged wage-suppression, this saw the resignation of the majority of the airline's aircrew and the basic structure of the airline was changed forever.

Changing Times

The early 1990s were essentially the dying years for TAA/Australian.

The Federal Government, although technically having deregulated the domestic aviation sector, made it effectively impossible for a new entrant Compass Airlines to succeed. In 1987 the Labor Government announced that the then government-owned domestic air terminals would be effectively privatised, and leased to the two domestic airlines. Compass, a threat to the TAA/Ansett duopoly, was granted severely limited access to aircraft parking gates.

The ambitious new airline was allocated what were clearly the worst gates, in the least desirable sections of domestic terminals across the country (in some cases, Atco huts were used). As the result of liens placed over the Compass aircraft (due to alleged non-payment of airways expenses), the government's Civil Aviation Authority effectively caused the shutting-down of Compass on December 20th 1991 - 5 days before what would have been the immensely profitable Christmas travel period. [Airservices Australia v Canadian Airlines International Ltd] A seemingly well-orchestrated plan saw the Compass aircraft quickly flown out of the country and with them, potentially the demise of a truly deregulated domestic aviation sector.

Ansett and TAA/Australian were the sole remaining players, in effect a de-facto two-airline policy yet again.

Although Compass was controversially and perhaps inevitably forced out of business, Australian's days, and those of Ansett were numbered. The decision had been made at Federal Government level to merge the airline into the network of Qantas and subsequently privatise the entire operation.

TAA, the airline that with Ansett had dominated domestic skies for over 45 years was no more. Less than ten years later Ansett collapsed. Domestic aviation in Australia is now the domain of Qantas, Virgin Blue, Jetstar (Qantas's wholly owned low cost subsidiary) and Tiger Airways.

Acquisition

Qantas acquired Australian Airlines in September 1992, in preparation for its closure on 30 October the following year. [Reid, Gordon. "Major Airline Directory", "Australian Aviation" magazine No. 96, May 1994, p72-82. Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd., Weston Creek ACT. ISSN 0813-0876]

Rebirth

In October 2002, Qantas revived the Australian Airlines brand for targeting the low-cost leisure market, flying out primarily out of Cairns and Bali. However, this airline was disbanded in 2006 and assets absorbed back into the Qantas group.

ee also

*TAA Fokker Friendship disaster

References

Further reading

*cite book | author = John Gunn | title = Contested Skies: Trans-Australia Airlines Australian Airlines 1946-1992 | year = 1999 | isbn = 0702230731

External links

* [http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi_bin/airline_detail.cgi?airline=Trans+Australia+Airlines Trans Australia Airlines crashes]
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.aus-vn1078298 Trans Australian Airlines (TAA) ephemera] held and digitised by the National Library of Australia
* [http://www.wingsaway.org.au Wings Away] organisation for former TAA airline hostesses