Air New Zealand denied today it had stripped assets from now-defunct Australian airline Ansett, as alleged by Ansett's administrators.
Air NZ managing director Ralph Norris said in a statement today that Air NZ would vigorously defend itself against any allegation that it had stripped assets from Ansett Australia.
Accounting firm Andersen isstruggling to meet creditor claims for more than $A3.5 billion after the collapse of a planned $A453 million sale of parts of the Ansett business to Tesna Holdings, a company controlled by Australian businessmen Solomon Lew and Lindsay Fox.
In October, the administrators accepted a $A150 million payment from Air NZ for any outstanding liabilities to Ansett.
"We are disappointed to see the Ansett administrators reviving allegations of asset stripping and inappropriate charging after reaching agreement with us to settle all claims between Ansett and Air NZ," Mr Norris said.
"The allegations are nothing more than groundless rumours which were circulated when anger over the loss of Ansett was at its peak. We refuted them at the time, and continue to do so.
"Air NZ knows of no grounds for action against our company by the Ansett administrators, and will be asking them to provide us with their reasons for advising creditors that this matter justifies further investigation."
The administrators have alleged that Air NZ put $A200 million ($NZ243.6 million) of its aviation fuel bills through Ansett's accounts; it took Ansett jet engines and spares and flew them to New Zealand; and it improperly cleared out Ansett bank accounts in the last few weeks before a voluntary administrator was called in.
However, Mr Norris said that the two airlines had separate fuel accounts and were billed separately, although they combined their purchasing power to get the best prices.
He said an Ansett leased Canadian Boeing 767 went to Air NZ's Christchurch engineering depot to be prepared for Ansett, since Ansett's engineering department was overloaded.
The original Canadian engines were being refurbished at Air Canada's expense and would be swapped for the Air NZ replacement engines shortly.
