n September 1996, Air New Zealand announced a conditional agreement to purchase 50% of Ansett Holdings for a total outlay of A$475 million. The purchase was completed in October 1996. Ansett Holdings owned 100% of Ansett Australia (the domestic airline) and 49% of Ansett International.
In February 2000, Air New Zealand announced the conditional purchase of the remaining 50% of Ansett Holdings Limited from News Corporation Limited for A$580m, with a further deferred consideration equivalent to 10.5% of issued capital to be settled between two and four years. The purchase was completed in June 2000 creating a new world top twenty airline.
Ansett had an extensive network throughout Australia and provided Air New Zealand customers with a greatly enhanced offering.
Following a significant downturn in Ansett's performance, leading to unsustainable levels of losses, Ansett was placed into Voluntary Administration in September 2001. On the 4th of October 2001 the Air New Zealand Board, its major shareholders and the New Zealand Government announced a new proposal which provided a substantial capital injection from the New Zealand Government into Air New Zealand. Following shareholder approval of the new proposal in December 2001, Air New Zealand was recapitalised in January 2002