| | This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. | Trans Australia Airlines or TAA (IATA: TN, ICAO: , and Callsign: ), (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 1996. 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. TAA is an abbreviation which can stand for: Trans Australia Airlines. ...
IATA airline designators, sometimes called IATA reservation codes, are two-character codes assigned by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to the worlds airlines in accordance with the provisions of Resolution 762. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with ICAO airline code. ...
Most airlines employ a distinctive and internationally recognised call sign that is normally spoken during airband radio transmissions as a prefix to the flight number. ...
An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. ...
This article is about the Australian airport. ...
A holding company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors. ...
Qantas is Australias oldest and largest airline, and the worlds second oldest airline (after KLM). ...
This article is about the Australian city; the name may also refer to City of Melbourne or Melbourne city centre (also known as The CBD). ...
VIC redirects here. ...
IATA airline designators, sometimes called IATA reservation codes, are two-character codes assigned by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to the worlds airlines in accordance with the provisions of Resolution 762. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with ICAO airline code. ...
Most airlines employ a distinctive and internationally recognised call sign that is normally spoken during airband radio transmissions as a prefix to the flight number. ...
Qantas Airways Limited (IPA: ) is the national airline of Australia. ...
The Australian Airlines brand was revived in 2002 to serve the low-cost leisure market of visitors to and from Australia. Australian Airlines was a full-service airline based in Australia, servicing Australian and Asian destinations between 2001 and 2006. ...
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, 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. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
Hargrave (seated) and Swain demonstrate the manlift kites (labelled A, B, D, & E), sling seat and spring balance in the parkland behind Stanwell Park beach, November 1894 Lawrence Hargrave (29 January 1850 – 6 July 1915) was an engineer, explorer, astronomer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer. ...
Harry George Hawker (22 January 1889–12 July 1921) was an Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aviation, the firm responsible a long series of successful military aircraft, including the Fury, Hurricane, Hunter and Harrier. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
John Flynn could refer to one of several people: The Reverend John Flynn, founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia John Flynn, the director of a number of Hollywood movies such as Rolling Thunder. ...
Frederick Sidney Cotton (17 June 1894 - 13 February 1969)was an Australian inventor, photographer and aviation and photography pioneer, responsible for developing and promoting an early colour film process, and largely responsible for the development of photographic reconnaissance before and during World War II. He numbered among his close friends...
Kingsford Smith in his flying gear Air Commodore Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, MC, AFC (February 9, 1897 - November 8, 1935), often called Charles Kingsford Smith, or by his nickname Smithy, was a well-known early Australian aviator. ...
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. Holyman Airways de Havilland DH-86 Loila Australian National Airways (ANA) was Australias predominant carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. ...
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. Joseph Benedict Chifley (22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951), Australian politician and 16th Prime Minister of Australia, was one of Australias most influential Prime Ministers. ...
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. This article is about the modern Australian political party. ...
Nationalization is the act of taking assets into state ownership. ...
Beginnings  Trans Australia Airlines Skymaster. 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. The Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Force in World War II. Like the C-47 Skytrain, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian airliner (the DC-4). ...
Arthur William Coles (August 7, 1892 - June 14, 1982), later Sir Arthur Coles, was a prominent Australian businessman and philanthropist. ...
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. This article or section may be confusing or unclear for some readers, and should be edited to rectify this. ...
Ansett aircraft at Melbourne Airport after the airlines collapse in 2001 Ansett Australia, or Ansett, was a dominant Australian domestic and international airline, which is in liquidation as of mid_2004. ...
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. Qantas Airways Limited (IPA: ) is the national airline of Australia. ...
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: The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing, propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. ...
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the Air Force branch of the Australian Defence Force. ...
The Lend-Lease program was a program of the United States during World War II that allowed the United States to provide the Allied Powers with war material without becoming directly involved in the war. ...
The designation DC-4 was used by Douglas Aircraft Company when developing the DC-4E as a large, four-engined type to complement its forthcoming DC-3 design. ...
The Douglas Aircraft Company was founded by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. ...
John Watkins could be any of the following: John Watkins — An educator and politician from Australia John Watkins — A Canadian diplomat and ambassador John Watkins — A cricket player from Australia John Watkins — A philosopher This human name article is a disambiguation page — a list of pages that might otherwise share...
- 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. Churchill redirects here. ...
- 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 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. RAAF Williams comprises the two bases of Point Cook and Laverton. ...
Essendon Airport (IATA airport code: MEB) is located at Essendon North, in Melbournes northern suburbs, Victoria, Australia. ...
Rapid Expansion  Trans Australia Airlines. 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. “Ansett†redirects here. ...
The Convair 240 was an American airliner produced by Convair from 1947 to 1956. ...
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. Location of Perth within Australia This article is about the metropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia. ...
The designation DC-4 was used by Douglas Aircraft Company when developing the DC-4E as a large, four-engined type to complement its forthcoming DC-3 design. ...
The Viscount was a medium-range turboprop airliner introduced in 1953 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world. ...
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. The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1959. ...
The SE 210 Caravelle was the first short/medium-range jet airliner, produced by the French Sud Aviation firm starting in 1955 (when it was still known as SNCASE). ...
The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. ...
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. The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine commercial jet airliner. ...
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 (initially known as the Douglas DC-9) is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner. ...
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. ...
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.
 Trans Australia Airlines. Further expansion occurred in the 1970s and larger 727-200s, (simultaneously with Ansett) were acquired. Once again the terms of the introduction was restricted by the two-airline policy. The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine commercial jet airliner. ...
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'. The Airbus A300 is a short to medium range widebody aircraft. ...
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twinjet airliner produced by the Commercial Airplanes division of The Boeing Company. ...
It also sponsored Network Ten's Melbourne-based soap opera Neighbours from late 1988-1994 with towards the end for Version 1 and following the introducing and towards the end of Version 2 sung by Barry Crocker. Network Ten, or Channel Ten, is one of Australias three major commercial television networks. ...
This article is about the Australian soap opera. ...
Barry Crocker is an Australian singer who has been performing for decades. ...
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. The 1989 Australian pilots strike was one of the most expensive and dramatic industrial disputes in Australias history. ...
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. Compass Airlines operated in Australia for two brief periods in the early 1990s. ...
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.[1] 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 subsidary) and Tiger Airways. Qantas Airways Limited (IPA: ) is the national airline of Australia. ...
Virgin Blue Airlines Pty Ltd is an Australian low-cost airline and Australias second-biggest airline. ...
Tiger Airways Private Limited is a low-cost airline based in Singapore, with its primary hub at Singapore Changi Airport. ...
Acquisition Qantas acquired Australian Airlines in September 1992, in preparation for its closure on 30 October the following year.[2] Qantas Airways Limited (IPA: ) is the national airline of Australia. ...
is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
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. Also see: 2002 (number). ...
Cairns redirects here. ...
This article is about the Indonesian island. ...
See also The largest loss of life in an Australian aircraft accident, with 29 deaths, occured on 10 June 1960 at Mackay, Queensland, Australia. ...
References
Further reading - John Gunn (1999). Contested Skies: Trans-Australia Airlines Australian Airlines 1946-1992. ISBN 0702230731.
External links - Trans Australia Airlines crashes
- Trans Australian Airlines (TAA) ephemera held and digitised by the National Library of Australia
- Wings Away organisation for former TAA airline hostesses
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