The trans-Tasman airline service out of Palmerston North looks likely to be scrapped with news that Australian carrier Ozjet is the subject of a takeover bid.
Ozjet had planned to take over the service that has been vacated by Air New Zealand subsidiary Freedom Air this weekend.
The company participated in a function at the airport two weeks ago to launch the service.
However, Palmerston North Airport's chief executive Garry Goodman says Ozjet is in discussions with Air Nauru about a purchase offer. He says if that happens, the trans-Tasman service will not go ahead.
Mr Goodman says that would be very disappointing, but the airport is committed to finding yet another carrier to take over the route.
He says he hopes to have a definitive answer from Ozjet about the service on Thursday.
Duty Free jobs in jeopardy
The manager of Palmerston North Airport's duty free shop Skywards says he is devastated the service is likely to end.
Gordon Edwards says he has been informing staff of the news and they are very upset.
Mr Edwards says 12 staff may be out of work and he has lost thousands of dollars that went into the catering service he had been contracted to run on the Ozjet planes.
www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200803271705/2fbc7e98 OzJet subject to takeover bid
SYDNEY, March 27: Minnow Australian airline OzJet is reportedly the subject of a takeover bid.
The identity of the mystery bidder is not known to AviationRecord.com, but an announcement is expected within the next two or three days.
The most likely bidder is a low cost carrier from Asia seeking to enter the Australian market.
OzJet is about three years old and runs several Boeing 737 aircraft. It was founded by the former owner of the Minardi Formula One team, Paul Stoddart. It was initially launched as a business-class only airline serving main trunk Australian domestic routes but failed to gain traction and reinvented itself as a charter airline, serving short haul international routes, largely in the Pacific-Oceania region.
This month it commenced selling tickets on a new scheduled service from Brisbane and Sydney to Palmerston North in New Zealand's North Island.
The first flight is scheduled for March 30 and a Melbourne service was planned later in the year. It also operates a regular scheduled service from Perth to Derby in Western Australia. It also runs flights to and from Norfolk Island under contract to Norfolk Air.
www.aviationrecord.com/search-results.aspx?articleType=ArticleView&articleId=302OZJET, HELLO, HELLO, ANYBODY THERE?
Manawatu Standard | Friday, 28 March 2008
Chief executive Willie O'Neill - 8.30am Australian time: Surrounded by people, can't talk, press statement going out later.
1.30pm and through afternoon: In a meeting, calls go through to voice mail, staff instructed to direct calls from Palmerston North to public relations man Tony Healey.
4.20pm: Still in a meeting.
6.30pm: Not home yet, voicemail box at work is full.
8.50pm: Automatic message on home phone states "the person you are calling is not available".
Public relations for OzJet, Tony Healey - 8.30am (Australian time): In bed asleep, would not return calls throughout the day.
3pm: His name and mobile number are at the bottom of a press statement for media queries (though he didn't respond to any calls).
Commercial GM Matt Payne - About 9.15am (Australian time): Not at work yet.
1.30pm: In a meeting (a different one from Mr O'Neill and probably won't be back).
4.10pm: Not there and messages go through to voicemail.
Our Airline (Nauru) staff based in Melbourne also wouldn't comment.
www.stuff.co.nz/4455289a6502.htmlOzJet's decision stuns mayor
By GRANT MILLER - Manawatu Standard | Friday, 28 March 2008
OzJet won't say if its pullout from Palmerston North is permanent and city Mayor Jono Naylor is pondering what that means.
"Only they would know. We can only read between the lines," he said.
OzJet's press statement said the company "is unable at this time to commence operations" and it "cannot move forward at this time".
"Certainly, at the moment, it looks like they've given up on the idea," Mr Naylor said.
"There's no indication that they will pick it up at a later date."
He suggested the public would be wary if OzJet ever came calling again, but "never say never".
Mr Naylor vowed the city would do everything in its power to remain an international destination.
"Both the council and the airport company are absolutely committed to ensure Palmerston North Airport maintains its international status," he said.
"We will do everything we can to make sure that happens."
There was still a good case for continuing with planned runway extensions, he said.
"It's too early to talk about giving up on international flights at this stage."
Mr Naylor was surprised by the sudden change of events.
"I'm a little bewildered that they were obviously all systems go right up until [Wednesday]. All of a sudden it's 'stop'. It seems like an unusual way to do business to me.
"I would have thought that with something as major as this going down they would have been able to give us more warning."
Palmerston North International Airport chief executive Garry Goodman said Palmerston North remains a viable international destination for airlines willing to take it on.
www.stuff.co.nz/4455260a6502.htmlAirport fate in Stoddart's hands
OzJet owner is a businessman with an eye for a quick buck.
The immediate fate of Palmerston North Airport's international status is in the hands of one person.
His name is Paul Stoddart.
He used to buy beer for his primary school principal, was a used- car salesman and became the owner of a Formula One racing team.
Mr Stoddart owns OzJet, which is suddenly on the cusp of being bought by a minor player in the international air industry, scuttling months-old plans by OzJet to start a trans-Tasman air service involving Palmerston North this weekend.
Mr Stoddart has always had an eye for a deal.
In his final year at St Joseph's Primary School in Preston, a residential and industrial suburb in Melbourne, the 13-year-old struck a deal with his principal that would see him complete the year without entering a classroom.
He spent most of the year restoring a coach at his parents' home. He also had access to two brumby horses stabled at a nearby dairy.
"It was my only good year at school," Mr Stoddart says.
"They had given up on getting me to attend classes, so we made a deal for students to get free lunchtime rides around the school oval. After lunch I would then use the coach and horses to run errands for the headmaster who gave me a letter so I could buy his cigarettes and beer. At the same time I bought a few extras and sold them after school."
As a 16-year-old he had a mate travel to farms throughout Australia, buying up old coaches to be restored. He also made and sold leather wristbands from off-cuts he got from a saddle maker.
Two years later he was buying and selling cars.
By his 21st birthday he had car yards in Melbourne, Sydney and on the Gold Coast.
After completing an auto-electrical course, Mr Stoddart started his own business - Kingdom Battery Auto Electrics, providing 24-hour support for taxi companies.
In 1982 Mr Stoddart added to his growing fortune by importing prestige cars from Britain.
"I was buying second-hand Rolls Royce, Mercedes and Porsche cars and on-selling them at a very good profit," he says.
In 1986, he went to England and opened a car auction house in Birmingham. He bought an 1861 manor house with 28 rooms, paying the asking price in cash.
In 1989 he received a call from the Royal Australian Air Force, which offered to sell him a fleet of BAC 1-11 100-seater aircraft.
Mr Stoddart agreed, intending to sell them at a profit to an airline or charter service.
He got no immediate offers, however, and decided to start a charter service himself, shuttling gamblers to and from Tasmania.
In England, his company became European Aviation and he operated a VIP charter service.
In 1991 he acquired 621 Audi cars that were damaged by water when a Tel Aviv bond store was flooded. He brought in his own repair team and within six months sold the lot to customers in the former Yugoslavia, making "a few million on the deal".
Always on the lookout for a deal, Mr Stoddart bought 4500 Yamaha trikes in Atlanta and shipped them to Britain.
"It was at the time that quad bikes were coming into vogue and there was a lobby to ban the three-wheel model as it was considered dangerous," Mr Stoddart says.
"To get around the dilemma, I converted them, adding a fourth wheel, renaming them Auto Quad and sold the lot in a matter of a few months."
Mr Stoddart realised his dream of becoming a Formula One team owner when Minardi shareholder Gabriele Rumi sold out to him shortly before the 2001 season.
Under Mr Stoddart's leadership, the team struggled from 2001 to 2005, remaining a perennial backmarker and lacking sponsors.
He bought the Minardi team for $30 million and sold it for a $20 million profit.
For most of what turned out to be Minardi's final season, the black cars were emblazoned with OzJet, which Mr Stoddart started.
The airline operated as a business-class only airline for a few months, then switched to a charter service, leaving Qantas to carry stranded passengers.
In 2006 OzJet started flights to Norfolk Island, Derby and Papua New Guinea.
Described by commercial general manager Matt Payne as a "niche, boutique operator", OzJet last year seized upon a trans-Tasman service set to be abandoned by Air New Zealand's Freedom Air.
OzJet swooped at the end of October last year, announcing it planned to pick up where Air New Zealand left off, with its first flight out of Palmerston North scheduled for Monday, March 31.
But just a few days out from flight No 1 - the deal changed.
OzJet announced it could not start the service because of "recent merger talks".
The Manawatu Standard has been told the other party is Our Airline, formerly Air Nauru.
What happens next may depend on how good the deal is for Mr Stoddart
www.stuff.co.nz/4455262a6502.html
