The A300B4 was a revolutionary aircraft at the time for the domestic airline industry, in that it was a wide-body (twin aisle) aircraft, designed for short haul operations and provided significant extra capacity on the east coast trunk network and to Perth. It had also the ability to handle much of the load the a Boeing 747 carried, and in the same stowage arrangement configuration, making it totally versatile with overseas carriers. This fact allowed overseas carriers to negotiate with TAA for all the freight on carriage using their sealed containers, and TAA gained additional patronage for this aircraft. Deregulation
Australian Airlines days were numbered as it was now time to introduce the master plan of uniting the two government airlines, QANTAS and AUSTRALIAN. Ansett, now a privately owned consortium was to be unaffected and retained its position in the AUSTRALIAN marketplace. The airline that with Ansett had competed in domestic skies for over 45 years was no more when the government made its announcement to privatise the international and domestic networks under the brand name QANTAS - The Australian Airline, (see they still retained TAA in the brand name) and in less than ten years Ansett would collapse as a result of management changes resulting from inappropriate management decisions, and the skies were free of all the old controls that made AUSTRALIA'S AVIATION SYSTEM UNIQUE IN AVIATION HISTORY.
Domestic aviation in Australia is now Qantas (and its subsidiaries) and Virgin Blue, JetStar, and Tiger who had been granted a licence to operate in Australia, and other operators are encouraged to submit for licences to increase competition.
History records that it was TAA who was a prime-mover in the opening-up of the national Australian Airways Network, and that during its 47 years of operation, TAA had paid in excess of $215,000,000 to the government in dividends and loan payments, justifying its existence and the faith shown in its establishment in 1946
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