Ministry plans sky-high dance clubs

Ansett has been in administration since September

SYDNEY, Australia -- UK-based dance club and record label Ministry of Sound has put in a bid to buy four jets from collapsed Australian airline Ansett and transform them into flying nightclubs, Australian media has reported.

Speaking to ABC radio this week, the company's commercial brand manager Richard Mergler, said the planes would be modified to recreate the nightclub experience in the sky.

They would be used to transport Australian clubbers to dance parties in Australia and overseas.

He said the company had originally planned to launch a Ministry of Sound airline in Europe but the collapse of Ansett had made aircraft and staff available in Australia.

The planes would be refitted for the Ministry's own DJs to play with specially designed club-style lighting on board.

According to the Melbourne-based newspaper The Age, the company plans to charge around A$200 for the Melbourne-Sydney hop.

Clubbers would arrive in either city at about 10pm, pumped up by the in-flight DJ and ready to hit the dance floor.

Return flights would then depart the following morning.

Safety

Asked about the plan, Australian Transport Minister John Anderson said he was uncertain about safety requirements for flying nightclubs.

"That would take a lot of very careful consideration," the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

According to the Age, if the plan gets government approval the flights would go ahead in January and February next year.

After that the aircraft would be sent to Europe to ferry clubbers from London to Mediterranean dance hotspots such as Ibiza and Crete.

Ansett, once the second largest airline in Australia's domestic aviation market, was put into administration in September by its financially troubled parent company, Air New Zealand.