Ansett Airlines was once the king of Australian skies but its sudden collapse in 2001 took with it thousands of jobs and countless holiday memories.
Constantine Frantzeskos, a Melbourne digital marketing and AI expert, told 9news.com.au his mission to bring Ansett back as The Ansett Travel Platform has already been fairly successful.
“Over the last 12 to 14 years, I’ve compiled a whole series of great digital innovations and had the idea… wouldn’t it be great to bring this back to life?” Frantzeskos said.
“Colloquially, we’d call it the ‘Ansett File’ and one day I thought, ‘Well, has anyone done anything with it? Who still owns it?’ and realised it had lapsed.”
Frantzeskos said he isn’t planning on bringing Ansett back as an airline – not just yet anyway.
Instead, he’s transformed the brand into an artificial intelligence (AI) travel agent with the much-loved Ansett name.
“The sky’s the limit,” Frantzeskos laughed when asked about potentially muscling up to the likes of Qantas and Jetstar.
“For the moment, I’m just really, really focused on delivering a really wonderful travel concierge experience for everyone.
“Who knows what the future holds, but you’re not the first person who has suggested it or who might want it.”
Frantzeskos is a keen AI user and found a niche in the travel industry with his new brand The Ansett Travel Platform.
Since its launch last month, Frantzeskos said there was a burst of users signing up for his $99 VIP experience.
“Interestingly enough, we’ve actually had a really high number of VIP sign-ups, a lot of VIP sign-ups that haven’t yet bought anything,” he said.
“That’s the classic tourism journey, which is to dream, plan, book, travel, and then remember.”
Ansett uses AI to create a traveller profile for users, which then creates ideal itineraries and scours the internet for the best deals.
It also offers flights at “wholesale prices”.
He said it’s a way to truly personalise a trip without the need for a physical travel agent.
“Because I don’t have gigantic overheads, because I don’t have tens of thousands of staff in multiple branches all over the world, I can pass on those savings to travellers,” Frantzeskos added.
“It just works for you 24-7 without a complaint.”
Frantzeskos’ hunch that AI will shape the next frontier of travel is on the money.
Fresh data from the Adyen 2025 Hospitality and Travel Report noted a 73 per cent surge in AI usage among travellers in Australia in the past year.
And the revival of Ansett Airlines attracted a huge wave of nostalgia for former customers and staff.
He said some ex-Ansett employee said seeing the name brought “tears to their eyes”.
Will Richards, the grandson of Ansett’s founder Sir Reginald Ansett, also got in touch.
“He’s got a helicopter business in Northern Territory, Ansett Aviation, and he said, ‘Mate, I just loved seeing it’,” Frantzeskos said.
The Ansett brand has lived on in some capacity as Richard’s helicopter flying school Ansett Aviation since 2003.
Around 16,000 people lost their jobs and a 65-year legacy circled the drain when the axe fell on Ansett in September 2001.
It flew an estimated 10 million passengers and had a 69-plane fleet before it collapsed.
