Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) or simply Ansett Worldwide was one of the world's largest

commercial jet A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly cl ...

aircraft leasing Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempor ...

companies. Its head office was located in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and it had offices in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

.Our Company
." AWAS. Retrieved on 8 August 2011. "Our team of commercial aviation industry professionals serves markets in The Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, from our Dublin headquarters and offices in New York, Miami, and Singapore." In August 2017, AWAS was acquired by

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd (DAE) ( ar, دبي لصناعات الطيران) is a global aviation services company and one of the largest aircraft leasing companies in the world. Headquartered in Dubai and with over 30 years in business, DAE's ...

, both managing at least airliners.

History

Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services was

Ansett Australia Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into admini ...

's subsidiary and leasing arm since 1985. By 1996, it was made a distinct company from Ansett Australia. Like Ansett Australia, Ansett Worldwide was owned by

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

and

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...

. When TNT sold its share in Ansett Australia to

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacif ...

in 1996, it retained its ownership of Ansett Worldwide. Ansett Worldwide was sold to an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in February 2000 for close to US$600 million. At the time of sale, AWAS had a leasing portfolio of 105 aircraft valued at US$4 billion, with 47 airlines. The Ansett name was retained as it was instantly recognisable in the global aviation industry. Under Morgan Stanley ownership the company was renamed simply Ansett Worldwide, the Aviation Services being omitted. The Ansett Worldwide fleet was combined with the Morgan Stanley Aircraft Leasing fleet, resulting in a combined fleet size of 180 aircraft by 2003. In 2004 Ansett Worldwide was rebranded as AWAS. A company media release issued to coincide with the rebranding stated that the company had outlived its association with a failed airline, hence the dropping of the Ansett name. In the industry it was known that some customers had shown a reluctance to deal with Ansett Worldwide, perceiving that the aircraft available were ex-Ansett Airlines aircraft that had been sitting idle since the airline had ceased operations, despite assurances from the lessor that this was not true. Morgan Stanley sold AWAS in 2006 to the UK

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...

Terra Firma with management and operations relocated to Dublin. In 2007 AWAS acquired and integrated the

Pegasus Aviation Finance Company Pegasus Aviation, Inc. or the Pegasus Aviation Finance Company was a US based aircraft lessor formed in 1988. It was one of the world's largest commercial aircraft lessors, with a fleet of over 200 aircraft. It had its headquarters on the 35th fl ...

into its company.

Corporate affairs

AWAS had its head office in The Galleries building (500 George Street) in the CBD of Sydney during the period of Morgan Stanley ownership. Administratively, the CEO and selected staff relocated to the Seattle office to be closer to the owners in Morgan Stanley's New York headquarters. The company's marketing, I.T., communications, legal, financial and administrative sections remained in Sydney throughout this period. Post the acquisition by Terra Firma the Sydney office closed, staff were either retrenched or relocated to the new Ireland office in Block B of Riverside IV along

Sir John Rogerson's Quay Sir John Rogerson's Quay is a street and quay in Dublin on the south bank of the River Liffey between City Quay in the west and Britain Quay. Named for politician and property developer Sir John Rogerson (1648–1724), the quay was formerl ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

.Locations
."
Direct link to Flash
) AWAS. Retrieved on 8 August 2011. "AWAS, Block B, Riverside IV, Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland" and "Miami Office AWAS, 801 Brickell Avenue, Suite 800, Miami, Florida, 33131, USA" and "New York Office AWAS 444 Madison Avenue NY NY 10022" and "AWAS, 435 Orchard Road, #10-03 Wisma Atria,

, 238877" Its

office was in One Brickell Square in

Downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and Park West. It ...

, while its

office was in Suite 203 of 620 at 444 Madison Avenue. Previously, its Dublin location was in the City West Business Campus. It also had a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

office in the City of Westminster.Corporate Locations
" Ansett Worldwide. 20 October 2001. Retrieved on 8 August 2011. "Dublin Office Ansett Worldwide 3013 Lake Drive City West Business Campus Dublin 24 Ireland" and "London Office Ansett Worldwide 3rd Floor 14 Floral Street London WC2E 9DS United Kingdom" and "Seattle Office Ansett Worldwide 110-110th Avenue NE Suite 410 Bellevue WA 98004 USA" At a later point the Dublin office was located in Regus House at Harcout Centre. By 2007 the company opened its new Dublin headquarters, Alexandra House, The Sweepstakes, Ballsbridge. At that time it consolidated its London office into its Dublin headquarters. The company previously had an office in Bellevue, Washington State. In 2006, the office had 30 employees in the office. By 2007, it merged into the Miami office.Corporate Locations
" AWAS. 28 July 2007. Retrieved on 8 August 2011.

References

External links

AWAS Official site
{{Aircraft leasing companies Companies based in Dublin (city) Aircraft leasing companies of the Republic of Ireland Ansett Australia Transport companies established in 1985 Irish companies established in 1985 Transport companies disestablished in 2017 2017 disestablishments in Ireland 2017 mergers and acquisitions