Latest news with #AnsettAustralia
AU Financial Review
11-08-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Ansett, the airline that collapsed, could usher us into AI travel
You might trust AI to quietly do your job, but would you trust it with your holiday – and would using a service named after a twice-bankrupt Australian airline help seal the deal? Melbourne-based digital marketing strategist Constantine Frantzeskos believes it should. The entrepreneur is reviving the Ansett Australia brand – formerly Australia's second-largest airline – as an AI-powered online travel agent called
7NEWS
28-07-2025
- Business
- 7NEWS
Ansett Australia revived as AI-powered travel platform two decades after carrier's collapse
The Ansett name 'is back', but not as Australians will remember the former airline. Ansett Australia was once the country's second-largest carrier but collapsed into administration after suffering financial troubles in 2001. Its final flight was recorded early the following year. Now, more than 20 years later, the brand is being revived not as an airline but as an AI-powered holiday booking platform called Ansett Travel. Melbourne-based entrepreneur Constantine Frantzeskos said it was designed to be a 'hyper-personalised' travel agent that suggests trips and itineraries based on your preferences, calendar events and budgets. 'I didn't just acquire a lapsed trademark and domain, I resurrected trust embedded deep in collective memory,' Frantzeskos said on Monday. 'The original Ansett served Australians beautifully for 65 years before collapsing in 2002, leaving a void in reliability and brand warmth. 'I believe that legacy still matters, and that it's deserving of being reimagined for modern travellers. 'Ansett Travel isn't about replicating the past, it's about re‑engineering it through AI as the core, not as an afterthought.' What Ansett Travel will offer Frantzeskos has previously worked with Emirates, Dubai Tourism and Visit Victoria, and this time partnered with Victorian travel start-up Travlr. He said the new platform is 'like the Costco of travel'. It is open to everyone 'but if you want the really good stuff' — flights, hotels and holidays at near-wholesale prices — you will need to join Ansett VIP, he said. An Ansett VIP membership is $99 a year. Not all AI features are up and running but Frantzeskos said plans for things like auto-generated itineraries, pre-trip alerts, and personalised loyalty experiences are on the cards. 'Today's travel platforms are reactive,' he said. 'You search, compare, click. Ansett seeks to flip that model. 'It's designed to anticipate when users need a break – school holidays, anniversaries, executive downtime, great weather for a weekend away – and offer options before you even think to ask. 'It's not replacing human agents; it's doing what scale, data and logic do best – with finesse, not friction.' The website is already live and offering travel deals for destinations including Las Vegas, Bali, Tokyo and Athens. Before its collapse, Ansett reportedly flew about 10 million passengers annually. More than 16,000 jobs were lost as a result of the company's downfall.
Sky News AU
28-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Ansett Australia revived as AI-powered online travel agency by Melbourne tech entrepreneur after its trademark lapsed
An iconic Australian airline that went under about 25 years ago has returned for travellers, but will not be flying passengers around this time. Former carrier Ansett Australia has been revived as an AI-powered travel agency by Melbourne-based tech entrepreneur Constantine Frantzeskos. He said the new version of Ansett is designed as a personalised travel concierge which will make predictive trip recommendations and plans based on customers' preferences. 'This will be a travel agent that understands you, your family, your needs, your budget and where you've been. That's the vision,' Mr Frantzeskos told The Age. Ansett's brand was revived as the old airline 'stood for something Australians still value: innovation, trust, and great service", according to the new travel website. Mr Frantzeskos said trademark for the former carrier had lapsed and the domain name was up for grabs. He said despite the airline's bleak collapse, where 16,000 jobs were lost, many Aussies could still appreciate the nostalgia behind the brand. 'It's a shame it went away, but I think that brand voice is still compelling, and people have nostalgia for it,' Mr Frantzeskos said. 'Just because the corporate entity behind something didn't work doesn't mean that the brand still doesn't mean something. When I mention what I'm doing to people, they get a big smile on their face.' The revived version of Ansett - which will compete against major online travel agencies such as Expedia, and Webjet - has stressed it uses AI to organise pricing and schedule trips. 'This is Ansett, reimagined for the way we live and travel now,' Ansett's website reads. 'We don't just show you endless options — we personalise your travel journey from the first click. 'We use AI to surface the best prices, strip out the noise, and recommend what actually matters to you. 'You won't find generic upsells or bait pricing here — just smart, fast, near-wholesale deals.' Ansett flew Aussies around the country and overseas for 65 years and was the second ranked airline to Qantas before it was grounded.
Perth Now
28-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
‘Trusted name': Defunct airline's return
More than 20 years after closing its doors, Ansett is back – this time, as an AI-powered travel agency. Ansett Airlines – later Ansett Australia – served as the country's second-largest since 1936 before it was placed into voluntary administration and ceased operations in 2002, resulting in a loss of 16,000 jobs. Before its closure, the airline was once a mainstay of Australian culture as one of the major sponsors of the AFL and the major sponsor for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ansett Australia ceased operations in 2002. Credit: Supplied Last month, Melbourne entrepreneur Constatine Frantzeskos announced the airline's return as an AI-powered travel agency after 'the famous Ansett trademark had lapsed'. 'Ansett is back – reborn as Australia's first truly AI-run travel agency,' he wrote on LinkedIn. 'I registered the trademark, created a fleet of AI agents, and – thanks to a tech integration with Travlr – have now turned Ansett into a one-founder online travel agency.' The Ansett Travel website is powered by AI and designed to offer a 'personalised' experience. 'We use a combination of large language models, recommendation systems, and predictive pricing engines,' the website read. 'Our AI helps personalise your journey, surface better deals faster, and automate the back-end processes that traditional OTAs still handle manually.' According to the company's website, the travel agency operates with 500 airlines and three million hotels and aims to '(revive) a trusted name' and '(give) it a new identity'. Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Frantzeskos said Ansett Travel was 'building the personal travel agent of the future'. The Ansett brand is making a comeback – this time as an AI-powered travel agency. Credit: Supplied According to the website, the company is not 'trading on nostalgia'. 'The Ansett name still holds meaning – especially for Australians who remember a time when travel felt innovative, considered, personal, and premium,' the website read. 'We're not trading on nostalgia – we're reviving a trusted name and giving it a new identity: intelligent, intuitive, and value-driven.'
ABC News
24-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Virgin Australia shares take off as airline returns to trade on ASX
Virgin Australia shares have rallied as the airline has officially returned to the stock market, marking one of the most anticipated listings of the year and the latest chapter in its turbulent journey. Virgin's initial public offering (IPO) was priced at $2.90 per share, raising $439 million for the company. As the company resumed trade on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Tuesday afternoon, Virgin shares lifted more than 8 per cent to $3.15 by 12:15pm AEST. After collapsing into administration at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Virgin was rescued by US private equity giant Bain Capital and delisted from the stock exchange. Now the airline has taken off on the ASX once more, with a leaner business model, a new shareholder mix and the financial muscle of Qatar Airways behind it. At the completion of the IPO, Bain's stake in Virgin was reduced to about 40 per cent, while Qatar Airways retained about 23 per cent, according to the prospectus. More than five years ago now, Virgin's fall was swift and dramatic. However, it was also entirely predictable if considered the fate of Ansett Australia. A fierce price war with Qantas had left Virgin financially vulnerable. Then came the global pandemic, grounding fleets and evaporating revenue almost overnight. "Qantas was worried that Virgin Australia was going to attack its corporate travel market and go after the business market, so we had this brutal price war which left Virgin Australia a little bit weak," aviation analyst Peter Harbison told ABC News. "And then when it was just starting to recover, COVID came along and it went into administration." In April 2020, Virgin entered voluntary administration, with its boss blaming its failure to secure a federal government bailout. Within months, the airline was sold to Bain Capital for $3.5 billion. Bain Capital grounded budget offering Tiger Airways for good and set about repositioning Virgin as a mid-market offering. Virgin returned to profitability in 2023. Mr Harbison said Virgin Australia offered fewer inclusions than Qantas but broader appeal than budget airline Jetstar. "The lounges are more limited. Its product is really very much tailored to the mid-market, which does suggest quite a lot." As of February, this year Virgin has an additional backer in government-owned Qatar Airways, which bought a 25 per cent stake in the airline and delivers more access to international routes. "Now with Qatar, they have a very tidy deal which will very much help them in the future," Mr Harbison said.
