Friday, 2 September 2011
The former employees of the Ansett Group received another $5.3 million this week. This brought the average payment to 96 cents in the dollar of their entitlements.

Employees have shared $727.5 million in 14 separate dividends as the administrators realised the assets of the Ansett Goup over the past 10 years.

The administration was the biggest in Australian corporate history and one of the most complex.

Mark Korda said today: "The Ansett collapse produced enormous pain and hardship to thousands of Australian families. This final chapter does not ease the pain, but it helps bring closure."

Mr Korda said today's outcome was made possible because the administrators were able to avoid a fire sale of assets at a time when the global aviation industry was at one of its lowest ebbs in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"The strategy for a more orderly approach gained important support employees, the Federal Government, the ACTU and many other parties," Mr Korda said.

The Ansett Group was Australia's second biggest airline, carrying more than 14 million passengers a year, when it was placed into administration on 12 September 2001. it had more than 15,000 employees, a turnover of more than $3 billion a year, a fleet of 133 aircraft and more than 350 premises. It had no money and costs of $200 million a month.