East-West Airlines (Australia)

For other airlines with the same name, see East-West Airlines (disambiguation).

East-West Airlines

IATA EW ICAO EWA Callsign EastWest
Founded	1947
Ceased operations	1993
Destinations
Headquarters	Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
Key people	Bryan Grey

East-West Airlines was an Australian regional airline founded in Tamworth, New South Wales in 1947. It operated to major regional city-centres and connected these centres to various provincial capitals, and by the 1980s it was Australia's third largest domestic airline.

History

East-West Airlines was purchased from its original founders in a share buy-out by Bryan Grey and Duke Minks in 1982. Grey had been in the management team at Ansett for many years and Williams had previously worked with both TAA and Ansett.

For a period in the 1980s East-West competed vigorously with major airlines Ansett and Australian Airlines on inter-capital routes. The Australian aviation industry was highly regulated at the time under the 'Two Airlines Policy', preventing East-West from flying directly between major capital cities, so they instead offered services between major cities via regional centres. Routes included Melbourne to Sydney via Albury or Sydney to Brisbane via Newcastle. East-West primarily flew Fokker F27 prop-jets and F28 jets but would eventually operate larger 737-300 equipment for passenger operations and Boeing 727-200s for cargo interests.

Because of its operating structure, East-West was able to significantly undercut other airlines. East West Airlines aggressive "Third Airline" campaign forced the Australian Government to eventually scrap the Two Airline Policy. The Hawke-lead Labour Government worked to protect the anti-competitive agreement which had kept Australian air fares seemingly inflated for many years.

Managing Director Bryan Grey along with marketing consultant John Williams created a massive nationwide media campaign and thus attracted many first time flyers with what could be described as Australia's first truly discounted fares in a now deregulated arena. East West set the scene for other airlines to enter the Australian domestic market years later.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 1980s Bryan Grey sold the airline to Western Australian businessman Ric Stowe. It was then acquired by Ansett in 1987. It continued to operate as a separate entity until 1993 when its operations were merged into those already established by Ansett.

Bryan Grey then created Compass Airlines, the first serious attempt to compete with the existing industry duopoly. This endeavour, however, was short-lived and folded at December 1991.

• IATA Code: EW
• ICAO Code: EWA
• Callsign: EastWest

Accidents and incidents

East-West Airlines Avro Anson crash at Pozieres, Queensland, 1950

• On 5 December 1950, an East-West Airlines Avro Anson crashed at Zanatta's property in Pozieres, in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland. The plane was en route from Eagle Farm Airport (Brisbane) to Armidale Airport when one engine caught fire, filling the cockpit with smoke. The aircraft suffered extensive damage on impact, although the pilot and two passengers were unharmed.
• On 4 November 1957, an East-West Douglas DC-3 with 27 people on board took off from Sydney Airport en route to Tamworth Airport. When the aircraft reached a height of 61 metres (200 feet), the No.1 engine began to backfire and loose power. The pilot tried to shut down the faulty engine, but mistakenly shut down the working No.2 engine. The pilot tried to return to the airport for an emergency landing, but the plane had lost too much height. It crashed into a lake approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) north of the airport, with a depth of 4 metres (13 feet) of water, 46 metres (150 feet) from the nearest bank. All 27 people on board survived.
• On 31 May 1974, a F27 Fokker Friendship departed Orange Airport and was making a nighttime approach to Bathurst Airport in turbulent and rainy conditions. Just before reaching the runway threshold, at an altitude of approximately 67 metres (220 feet), the pilots realised the aircraft had drifted too far to the left of the runway centre line to make a safe landing, so they decided to initiate a go-around. However, the aircraft encountered a sudden downdraft, and due to its altitude being too low to effect a recovery, the rear fuselage impacted the ground heavily, just outside the boundary of the flight strip. The aircraft slid 625 metres (2050 feet) along the ground, ripping the starboard engine off the wing. The passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft, and all survived.

Historical Fleet

East-West Airlines Lockheed Hudson at Wagga Wagga aerodrome, used for CSIRO Cloud Seeding experiments in 1958.

• 3 - Lockheed Hudson (converted to civil transports)
• 8 - Douglas DC-3
• 20 - Fokker F27 Friendship
• 9 - Fokker F28 Fellowship
• 2 - Boeing 727-277(F)
• 3 - Boeing 737-200
• 1 - de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
• 8 - BAe 146-300