Sir Reginald Myles Ansett
KBE
KBE may refer to:
* Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters
* Knowledge-based engineering
Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...
(13 February 1909 – 23 December 1981) was an Australian businessman and aviator.
He was best known for founding
Ansett Transport Industries
Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into admini ...
, which owned one of Australia's two leading domestic airlines between 1957 and 2001. He also established a number of other business enterprises including
Ansett Pioneer coachlines, Ansett Freight Express,
Ansair coachbuilders, Gateway Hotels,
Diners Club Australia, Biro Bic Australia
and the
ATV-0 television station in
Melbourne and
TVQ-0 in
Brisbane which later became part of
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...
. ATI also bought out
Avis Rent a Car
Avis Car Rental is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Avis, Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental and Zipcar are all units of Avis Budget Group.
Avis Budget Group operates the Avis brand in South Africa ...
and had a 49% interest in Associated Securities Limited (ASL). In late 1979, mainly due to the collapse of ASL, Ansett lost control of the company to
Peter Abeles
Sir Peter Emil Herbert Abeles, AC (25 April 192425 June 1999) was an Australian transportation magnate. A refugee from Hungary, he became a businessman in Australia, and was knighted in 1972.
Career
Abeles was born in Vienna, in Austria, but ...
of
TNT and
Rupert Murdoch of
News Corporation who became joint managing directors.
Biography
Early life
Reginald Myles Ansett was born in
Inglewood, Victoria, on 13 February 1909.
His father owned a garage before
World War I when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force.
After the war, his father established a
knitting
Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...
factory in
Camberwell
Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross.
Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...
and Ansett gained qualifications as a knitting-machine mechanic at
Swinburne Technical College
Swinburne University of Technology (often simply called Swinburne) is a public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1908 as the Eastern Suburbs Technical College by George Swinburne to serve those without access ...
.
He was an enthusiastic private pilot, having obtained his licence in 1926 (No. 419).
Career
He went north to work as an axeman in a
Northern Territory survey team. For a time, he entertained the idea of buying land in the territory to grow peanuts.
He found himself unemployed when the Commonwealth government cut off the funds for the
survey. On returning to Victoria in December 1931, with his savings he purchased a second-hand
Studebaker
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...
and began a service car operation between
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...
and
Maryborough carrying passengers and small items of
freight.
When this proved uneconomic, he switched the Ansett Motors operation to a Ballarat to Hamilton service.
The wealthy graziers of Victoria's western district proved to be a much better market. Within a few years he had a small
fleet of service cars operating to towns in western Victoria.
Ansett Airways 1936–1946
By 1935,
Ansett Motors and other operators were proving a thorn in the side of
Victorian Railways, taking both passenger and freight revenue. The Victorian Transport Minister and Attorney General
Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
pushed a bill through the state parliament prohibiting service cars from competing with Victorian Railways,
slashing Ansett Motors' revenue overnight.
Looking around for an alternative, Ansett decided to try an air service. What made this attractive was that air services were controlled by the Commonwealth government, so the state could not intervene.
On 17 February 1936 Ansett Airways Pty Ltd inaugurated its first service, from
Hamilton to Melbourne using a diminutive six-seater
Fokker F.XI Universal
The Fokker Universal was the first aircraft built in the United States that was based on the designs of Dutch-born Anthony Fokker, who had designed aircraft for the Germans during World War I. About half of the 44 Universals that were built betwe ...
.
The flights operated daily each way, Monday to Friday.
The service was a modest success and the
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...
was joined by an Airspeed A.6 Envoy. To help boost his funds, he entered, but failed to win, the Brisbane to Adelaide air race in 1936, losing to C. D. Pratt overall, and to Mr & Mrs J. W. F Collins in the speed section (also being beaten by
Ivy May Pearce
Ivy May Hassard (nee Pearce) (8 June 1914 – 26 April 1998) was one of the first female pilots in the southern hemisphere and a pioneer of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. She is noted for her contribution to the cultural development of ...
, one of a number of female competitors).
On weekends he took the Universal on
barnstorming tours of Victoria giving joyflights to paying customers.
To fund its expansion, he listed the company on the
Melbourne Stock Exchange on 14 April 1937, offering 250 000 shares at £1 ($2) each.
A base, including a flying school, was established in a
hangar at Melbourne's
Essendon Airport.
He found selling the shares hard going. A number of aircraft crashes, notably the loss of Airlines of Australia's Stinson in southern Queensland in 1937, had dampened public enthusiasm for airline investments. Underwriters refused to handle the
float so he had to find investors himself.
It was a difficult time but he eventually interested enough wealthy individuals in the western district.
Needing new aircraft, he ordered three
Lockheed L.10A Electras.
Under the Empire Preference Scheme, aircraft from Britain could be imported duty-free; Aircraft from anywhere else paid import duties.
Ansett Airways Limited had posted a £30 000 ($60 000) loss in its first year and its shares had more than halved in value.
His bankers refused to advance the money to pay
Lockheed £50 000 ($100 000) for the Electras which were being held in bond awaiting payment of £14 000 ($28 000) in duty. His first priority was to get the aircraft released, so he lobbied T W White, Minister for Customs in the Lyons government. He argued there was no British equivalent aircraft available and that British airlines had ordered them for their own fleets. White accepted the argument and the duty was waived.
To pay Lockheed, he went back to the banks who agreed to finance the purchase providing his wealthy grazier investors guaranteed the loan. The investors backed him, but at the price of Ansett handing over most of his personal shares in Ansett Airways.
Australian National Airways (ANA), the major Australian airline at the time, headed by Ivan Holyman and backed by five British shipping companies, made a takeover bid for Ansett in 1938.
While Holyman did not take Ansett Airways seriously, he was attempting to create a major airline monopoly in Australia. Ansett was one more opponent to be eliminated by takeover. At this stage Ansett Airways shares had dropped to 8s (80 cents).
The Ansett chairman Ernest O'Sullivan was a banker with no experience in the airline business. When
Holyman offered 9s (90 cents) per share for Ansett Airways, he and the board of directors jumped at it. Determined not to lose his fledgling business, Ansett called an extraordinary meeting of shareholders. In the heated confrontation he convinced enough shareholders to back him and the bid failed.
O'Sullivan resigned on the spot.
No sooner was this battle won that Ansett Airways came close to disaster. On 22 February 1939, a fire broke out in the Essendon hangar.
The Fokker Universal and one of the Electras were destroyed.
Surveying the wreckage in the light of day, Ansett told his staff he was determined to continue. By the end of 1939, Ansett Airways was flying from Melbourne to
Adelaide via
Mildura and
Renmark; from
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
to Adelaide via Mildura and
Broken Hill
Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...
and Melbourne to Sydney via
Narrandera.
The company also continued with the original Melbourne-Hamilton service. Around this time, Ansett Airways continued to receive a subsidy payment of around £16 000 ($32 000) per annum from the Commonwealth government.
World War II was a time of boundless opportunities for Ansett. In 1942, he abandoned all his airline routes except Melbourne-Hamilton and concentrated on performing engineering work and charter flights for the
United States Army Air Corps.
The Essendon hangar was expanded and by war's end the tiny Ansett organisation was employing around 2,000 people.
The Ansett organisation finished the war flush with cash but facing trouble trying to regain its airline routes which had been taken over by ANA.
In 1943, the Commonwealth
Department of Civil Aviation released a discussion paper ''Post-war Reorganization: Proposal Outline of a Plan for Civil Aviation''. The Curtin Labor government was developing plans for various nationalised industries when the war ended. One industry in their sights was the airlines. Apart from the
United States, most countries had adopted a policy of state ownership of airlines. On 22 December 1944, acting prime minister
Frank Forde announced the government would
legislate to nationalise all interstate airlines.
Their prime target was Australian National Airways (ANA). Following the passage of the Australian National Airlines Act on 16 August 1945 the private enterprise airlines mounted a challenge in the High Court.
When this was successful the government changed its strategy and formed the Australian National Airlines Commission which was to operate as
Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), competing directly with ANA.
Postwar Expansion 1946–1956
Faced with being caught in the middle of a titanic struggle between Australian National Airlines and the new government owned airline, he offered to sell Ansett Airways to the Commonwealth government as a going concern. Although the idea had some attraction to the
Chifley government, nothing came of the proposed deal.
Ansett decided to continue his airline business while building up the Ansett Motors side.
As he gradually obtained new routes out of Melbourne, he made the decision to position Ansett Airways as a low cost competitor offering no-frills flights between the major capitals.
He cut the standard fare being offered by ANA and TAA by 20 per cent.
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner
manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II.
It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...
aircraft normally seated 21 passengers, three abreast. He installed narrower seats to create a four abreast 28 passenger layout. There was little in the way of catering or other amenities. The strategy was a success, although TAA quickly adopted the lower price he was offering. ANA ignored him and suffered for it. TAA introduced the new 'Tourist Class' offer on its
Vickers Viscount aircraft in 1955.
Both the coachline and road freight businesses were highly successful businesses and by 1962, Pioneer Coaches was running 245 buses throughout the country. In 1956, he established an airfreight business using
Aviation Traders Carvairs which were
Douglas DC-4s converted to enable cargo to be loaded through the nose.
Ansett was the first Australian airline to move into the
package holiday business. In 1947, Ansett started offering services to resorts on the
Great Barrier Reef using
Catalina flying boats.
These services established the
Great Barrier Reef as a destination for tourists. ATI subsequently took over its rival, Barrier Reef Airways.
Ansett developed Hayman Island into a major holiday resort in the Whitsunday region. BRA's Short S.25 Sandringham flying boats were later used by Ansett Flying Boat Services on the Sydney-
Lord Howe Island route. The service, from
Rose Bay Base on
Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...
, was maintained until 1974.
Takeover and consolidation of ANA 1957–1969
On 18 January 1957, Ivan Holyman, managing director of ANA, died in
Honolulu.
ANA had only kept going because of Holyman's determination not to give up. The five British shipping companies that owned the airline had been trying to get out for several years. The ANA board tried to get the Commonwealth to buy the airline and merge it with TAA, however, their asking price was considered ludicrous.
Ansett saw his opportunity. He made an offer of £3.3 million ($6.6 million) which the ANA board promptly rejected. Questions were asked about where Ansett would obtain the funds. There were stories about backing from two major oil companies. Later that year, on 23 August, ANA accepted the original offer. The ailing ANA operation was taken over by Ansett Transport Industries to create a new national airline: Ansett-ANA. Ansett was now in the big time, but he still had to make Ansett-ANA competitive with the government airline, TAA, which was much better managed and had a superior aircraft fleet.
Ansett acquired ANA's fleet of
Douglas DC-6s and acquired six Vickers Viscounts in order to better compete with TAA. After the acquisition, Reg Ansett suddenly became a firm supporter of the two-airline policy. It became more restrictive after the passage of the ''Airlines Equipment Act'' in 1958 prescribing what aircraft each airline could buy and much else besides. Reg Ansett had advocated the act to stop TAA from buying French
Sud Aviation Caravelle
The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle is a French jet airliner produced by Sud Aviation.
It was developed by SNCASE in the early 1950s and made its maiden flight on 27 May 1955.
It included some de Havilland designs and components developed for t ...
aircraft which would have been the first jets imported into Australia.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Ansett purchased a number of regional airlines including
MacRobertson Miller Airlines, Guinea Airways, and
Butler Air Transport
Butler Air Transport was an Australian airline founded by C. Arthur Butler to operate air transport primarily among New South Wales airports in Australia, from 1934 until 1959. . Ansett also offered services to
New Guinea. In 1964, Reg Ansett would import the first
Boeing 727s following a coin toss with the managing director of TAA as to which company would import them first. In 1968, Reg Ansett changed the name of Ansett-ANA to Ansett Airlines of Australia. By 1969, Ansett had become Australia's leading domestic airline and its market share would rise as high as 55%.
He expanded his business interests into television in the 1960s. In April 1963, his Austarama Television company was granted a television licence to operate Melbourne's third commercial television station
ATV-0, starting constructing studios in
Nunawading a few months later. ATV-0's first official broadcast was on 1 August 1964. Ansett expanded his television interests to become a major shareholder in Universal Telecasters, licencees of
TVQ-0 Brisbane, in 1965 and buying out the station entirely in 1970. He was appointed
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(KBE) in 1969. At that point, he was managing director of Australia's biggest airline and the biggest transport company in the southern hemisphere. Because of its regional services, Ansett was the world's biggest operator of
Fokker Friendships.
Challenges in the 1970s
In 1972, Peter Abeles'
Thomas Nationwide Transport launched a takeover bid for Ansett Transport Industries. This bid was thwarted with the assistance of
Victorian Premier
The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...
Sir Henry Bolte. This was due to both a longstanding friendship between Bolte and Reg Ansett. Moreover, Bolte was keen to save a Victorian company from being taken over by a NSW firm. After Bolte's retirement, he would become a director of Ansett Transport Industries.
His views on women in aviation were widely viewed as sexist. He once described stewardesses over 30 as ''old boilers'' and claimed that women were unsuitable to be pilots because of their menstrual cycles.
In 1978,
Deborah Wardley took the company to the Victorian Equal Opportunity Board for discrimination.
Wardley was a charter pilot who claimed that she was better qualified to be hired than other male pilots that had been hired. Ansett claimed that they hadn't discriminated against her because she was a woman but because she had the potential to fall pregnant.
On 29 June 1979, the Equal Opportunity Board ruled in favour of Wardley
and directed that Ansett Airlines should recruit her at the next intake. Ansett delayed its training intake and appealed to the
Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the highest court in the Australian state of Victoria. Founded in 1852, it is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited and inherent jurisdiction within the state.
The Supreme Court comprises ...
but the appeal was dismissed. Ansett appealed the Supreme Court decision to the
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution.
The High Court was established fol ...
in October 1979, but employed Wardley pending the outcome of the case. The High Court dismissed Ansett's appeal in March 1980.
In late 1979, Abeles and Rupert Murdoch launched a successful takeover of Ansett Transport Industries.
Under the new management structure, Abeles and Murdoch would be joint managing directors
with Reg Ansett as chairman. Murdoch would take over
ATV-0 and merge with Ten-10 in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
to effectively give him control of what is now the
Ten Network. Abeles would merge the freight operations with TNT and run the airline.
In 1980, Ansett sold
TVQ-0 to a joint venture between petrol company
Ampol
Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. Ampol is the largest transport energy distributor and retailer in Australia, with more than 1,900 Ampol-branded stations across the country . It also ope ...
and Sydney radio station
2SM.
Personal life
He married twice. From his first marriage, to Grace, he had two sons, John and
Robert (Bob). After their divorce, Grace took the boys to live in the USA. He married Joan Adams in 1944 and they adopted three daughters, Jane, Janet and Jill.
The new family lived on the Ansett estate at
Mount Eliza. From the early 1960s Ansett travelled to and from the office by helicopter each day, a remarkable thing to do in the days when few Australian CEOs even had chauffeured cars.
Bob Ansett returned from the US in the 1960s to work for his dad; and eventually, after his dad denied him work, purchased an established hire car company,
Budget Rent a Car.
However, Reg Ansett never acknowledged his son's presence in Australia. In later years they were to become bitter business rivals as Ansett Transport Industries owned a competing company, Avis, which at the time held a monopoly on hire car services at Australian airports. The
ABC documentary, ''Dynasties: The Ansett Family'', revealed that the family of Lady Joan Ansett – who died in 2003 – was still in legal turmoil.
Death
Ansett fell ill several months before his death, and returned home from the Peninsula Private Hospital at Frankston to spend Christmas with his family. First indications of the seriousness of his illness came at the annual meeting of Ansett Transport Industries Ltd in November when, for the first time in 44 years, he failed to attend and give his chairman's address. He died on 23 December 1981 at his personal estate in Mount Eliza.
Legacy
The Ansett House at
Peninsula Grammar was named after Sir Reginald Ansett and continues to hold his name as of 2022.
References
Further reading
* Adrian Magee, ''Reg Ansett: Aviation Tycoon'', Heinemann Port Melbourne, 1997
* Jon Davison and Tom Allibone, ''Beneath Southern Skies: Celebrating 100 Years of Australian Aviation'' Lothian Books South Melbourne 2003
* Australian Geographic, ''The Australian Encyclopædia'' 6th edition, Terrey Hills, 1996 articles on Sir Reginald Myles Ansett and Ansett Australia.
External links
Ansett, Sir Reginald Myles (Reg) (1909–1981) ADB OnlineSir Reginald Ansett Transport MuseumThe Ansett Family on ABC TV's Dynasties*
*
*
*
ttp://www.users.on.net/~rdblair/ansett.htm Ansett 17 February 1936 – 5 March 2002 History"Some Inspirational People"Profiled by
Laurence MacDonald Muir.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansett, Reg
1909 births
1981 deaths
20th-century Australian businesspeople
Ansett Australia
Australian aviators
Australian company founders
Australian chief executives
Businesspeople from Melbourne
Chief executives in the airline industry
Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Logie Award winners
People from Inglewood, Victoria