Air NZ ANNOUNCES FLIGHT REDUCTION

Air New Zealand will be cutting back flight schedules for November by 10.5%, as a consequence of reduced demand for international air travel following the terrorist attacks on the United States, the airline’s Board of Directors announced today.

“The bulk of the reduction will take place on international routes - and mainly between Sydney and Los Angeles and across the Tasman,” said the Acting Chairman of Air New Zealand, Dr Jim Farmer.

“There will be little effect on New Zealand domestic services, and no provincial centre will lose its Air New Zealand service as a result of the decisions taken today.

“The reduction in flying, coupled with the necessary reorganisation of the company following the loss of Ansett from the Group, will have an impact on staffing levels at Air New Zealand.

“We will be consulting with unions before confirming any estimate of the employment impact, but it is likely to be lower than the predictions of between 1,000 and 1,500 job losses being made over the weekend.

“Initially, we plan to achieve workforce reductions by attrition and a recruitment freeze to stop the hiring of replacements when people leave. We are also encouraging staff to take accumulated leave and reduce over-time.

“However, there will be redundancies in some areas, and these will be managed through processes which have been agreed with our unions in current collective employment contracts, or contained in individual contracts.

“The reductions at Air New Zealand are not as significant as some of the layoffs that have been announced recently by international airlines, as Air New Zealand is heading into a period when air travel demand from our home market increases,” Dr Farmer said.

Air New Zealand will be making more detailed announcements on flight schedule changes and reorganisation as the implementation of today’s decisions by the Board proceeds.