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Big Australian airline grounded

Friday, Sept. 14, 2001 | 10:14 a.m.

CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia's second largest airline, Ansett, was grounded early today after its parent, Air New Zealand, failed to find a buyer for the unprofitable carrier.

"Unfortunately it (Ansett) couldn't be given away for a dollar," said Peter Hedge, the voluntary administrator from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Hedge said his midnight decision to ground the airline had been because there was "not enough money to keep the lights on." Before the closure, Ansett was losing about $676,000 a day.

The grounding left the airline's 16,000 staff in shock and stranded an estimated 45,000 passengers around the country.

Ansett was placed into voluntary administration Wednesday after Australia's largest carrier Qantas rejected Air New Zealand's plea for it to buy all or parts of the carrier.

Ansett also flew to Asia and was a member of the Star Alliance that included carriers like United Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

Hedge said negotiations were underway with potential buyers of Ansett assets.

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