Domestic Air Cargo Industry in Australia - Bureau of Infrastructure ...

Chapter 4TNT Courier System also introduced chartered aircraft on overnightexpress services although it continued to rely heavily on the trunkair1 ines (Freight and Container Transportation 1979f, 4). By late1979 two Learjets provided overnight return services on the Melbourne-Perth and Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane-Townsville-Cairns routes while twoWestwinds served Sydney-Melbourne andMe1 bourne-Adelaide-A1 iceSprings-Darwin. Four smaller aircraft operated to coastal and centralQueensland and south-west Western Australia.In May 1979 IPEC was issued with a charter1 icence to operateovernight freight services between Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne(Essendon), Perth and Adelaide using DC3 aircraft (Department ofTransport 1979c, 39). The company comnenced a Melbourne-Sydney-Melbourne overnight service using a DC3 in July 1979. Other aircraftchartered by the company provided connections to Brisbane and Adelaidewhile IPEC's Argosy aircraft operated to Tasmania (Freight andContainer Transportation 1979d, 5). The DC3 freighter was withdrawnfrom service in late 1979 as a result of high fuel costs, limitedpayload and expensive cargo handling procedures. However, IPECcontinued to act as a forwarder for mainland air freight by charteringTAA and Ansett aircraft and by using a number of smaller operators(Department of Transport 1980, 37).The services operated by the freight forwarders were generallycomplementary to those offered by the trunk airlines as they filledtime or service gaps in the airlines' schedules. A TAA official notedthat IPEC had increased the size of the air cargo market to Tasmaniabecause of its ability to cater to segments which were not served bythe trunk airlines (Freight and Container Transportation 1979c, 5).However, there were also areas of competition. For example,inNovember 1979 Ansett and TAA launched door-to-door express air freightservices in direct competition with the services provided by Wards andTNT Courier System (Freight and Container Transportation 1979e, 15).Takeover of Ansett Transport IndustriesIn late 1979 TNT and News Limited acquired joint control of AnsettTransport Industries Ltd (ATI). TNT had initially acquired a 23.3 percent interest in the company in 1972 but a subsequent takeover offerat that time had failed after an amendment to the Victorian CompaniesAct.Although air freight forwarding was not a central consideration in thetakeover, the ownership change was followed by a significantrestructuring of Ansett's air cargo operations including greateremphasis on forwarding activities. In February 1980 the former27