NEWS Corp Ltd and TNT Ltd were close to reaching a deal this week 10 years ago on the sale of Western Australian charter arm of Skywest Aviation as part of a sell-off of their non-core aviation assets. Air New Zealand was expected to get a green light from the federal government and the Foreign Investment Review Board to secure a 50 per cent stake in both Ansett Holdings and Bodas, a News Corp-TNT joint venture, at a cost of $350 million. Bodas owned Skywest Aviation and Airlines as well as regional airline operators Aeropelican Air Services and Kendall Airlines. The disposal of Skywest aviation by the joint venture company was the result of losing a $26.4 million Coastwatch contract with Customs to the National Jet Service.