Sydney: The sale of failed Australian carrier Ansett to a local consortium collapsed on February 27, effectively sounding the death knell for what was once Australia's second-biggest airline.

A statement issued by the Melbourne-based Tesna consortium's co-chairmen Solomon Lew and Lindsay Fox said arrangements to complete the sale could not be finalised by February 28 deadline.

As a result, some 3,000 employees of Ansett Mark II, the remnants of the carrier's original 17,000-strong workforce, face the loss of their jobs for the second time.

Ansett was originally grounded last September by its then-owner, Air New Zealand, under the weight of a crippling debt of Australian Dollar $ 3.5 billion.

Despite the collapse of the sale, Ansett's administrators, from the accounting firm Andersen, refused to announce the carrier's demise, but conceded they now faced a death-bed vigil.

A statement issued by the firm said that previously unsuccessful bidders would be consulted before Ansett is grounded permanently. But if no alternative buyer emerges at the 11th hour, Ansett would cease operations on February 25 night, the statement said.

Andersen's Mark Korda, who along with Mark Mentha is overseeing the aborted sale, said that the consortium's abandonment of the deal was "unexpected because Tesna had employed 20 new senior executives and offered jobs to about 3,000 employees, it had committed to new aircraft".

"The administrators were ready, willing and able to complete the transaction," the administrators' statement said.