Westpac

Westpac (a portmanteau of "Western-Pacific"), is an Australian bank and financial-services provider headquartered in Westpac Place, Sydney. It is one of Australia's "big four" banks. Its formal name is Westpac Banking Corporation, abbreviated to WBC.

As of November 2015, Westpac had 13.1 million customers, and Australia's largest branch network with 1429 branches and a network of 3850 ATMs. The bank is Australia's second-largest bank by assets. It is also the second-largest bank in New Zealand.

On 29 January 2015, Bank of South Pacific announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Westpac's banking operations in Samoa, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Tonga for A$125 million.

History

Established in Sydney in 1817, the Bank of New South Wales (BNSW) was the first bank in Australia with Edward Smith Hall as its first cashier and secretary. During the 19th and early 20th century, the Bank opened branches first throughout Australia and Oceania, at Moreton Bay (Brisbane) in 1850, then in Victoria (1851), New Zealand (1861), South Australia (1877), Western Australia (1883), Fiji (1901), Papua New Guinea (1910) and Tasmania (1910).

Western Pacific Airlines

Western Pacific Airlines, or WestPac, started scheduled passenger flights on April 28, 1995, with eight Boeing 737-300s. The low-cost airline was formed in 1994 under the name Commercial Air, changed to Western Pacific. Edward Gaylord of Gaylord Entertainment Company was involved in the formation and management of Western Pacific. Its headquarters were in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, near Colorado Springs.

Originally based at Colorado Springs Airport, Western Pacific routes were mainly west of the Mississippi River. Routes were extended to the eastern U.S. and on the west coast as new Boeing 737-300 aircraft were acquired. At one point the airline leased Boeing 727-200 jetliners as well. The airline declared bankruptcy in February 1998 and ceased operations.

Color in the Sky

The WestPac livery could be encountered in variations on the basic Western Pacific livery, but most aircraft were painted in logojet schemes. They included advertisements for: