|
Air NZ joins aviation cull: 200 staff axed |
 |
|
Thursday, 20 November 2008 03:21 |
AIR New Zealand will axe 200 full-time workers - half of whom will be long-haul cabin crew - in response to weakening passenger demand.
The latest job cuts in the depressed aviation sector will also stoke fears that Qantas will pursue further redundancies, as airlines around the world are forced to slash flights and costs.
Air NZ already has pilots on leave without pay, staff on individual contracts working fewer hours and cabin crew shifting to part-time employment. It has not been replacing workers who leave from "non-safety sensitive roles".
But the NZ government-owned carrier said the measures such as leave without pay had not been enough to rid it of "excess staff levels" which resulted from it having to reduce the number of flights - especially on long-haul routes - to counter falling demand.
The cuts will include up to 100 long-haul cabin crew and 68 jobs in technical, pl anning and management areas. Some of the redundancies will be compulsory. The redundancies and a clampdown on spending will save the carrier $NZ20 million ($17 million) a year.
Qantas announced in July that it would lay off 1500 workers by Christmas, as well as shelving plans to hire another 1200 staff, grounding up to 22 aircraft and closing overseas call centres. The airline has also attempted to cap wage rises at 3 per cent a year.
"The only people at Qantas who are not afraid of losing their jobs are the executives who are multiplying at a great rate of knots," the Australian Services Union's assistant national secretary, Linda White, said yesterday.
Air NZ, Qantas and Virgin Blue have been slashing fares to entice the public to travel. This week Qantas extended its "two-for-one" travel deal by two days, in the latest indication forward bookings are poor.
Air NZ's r elease of traffic figures late last month showed a fall in passenger numbers across its operations in September. Its trans-Tasman and Pacific routes were worst hit, suffering a 7 percentage point fall in load factors - a measure of seats occupied by paying passengers - to 72 per cent.
The carrier has faced increasing competition on its most crucial route, across the Tasman.
Last month Virgin Blue's New Zealand-oriented carrier, Pacific Blue, began nine flights a week between Sydney and Auckland, while Jetstar plans a daily service between New Zealand's largest city and both Sydney and the Gold Coast next April.
The route is also contested by Qantas, Emirates, Chile's LAN and Aerolineas Argentinas, and capacity may increase once Emirates begins daily flights of its A380 super-jumbo in February.
Shares in Air NZ rose 5c to 79c yesterday. |
Copyright © 2009 ASU. All Rights Reserved.
Authorised and published by Sally McManus, Branch Secretary
Australian Services Union NSW & ACT (Services) Branch
Level 1, 39-47 Renwick Street, Redfern NSW 2016, Australia
News Archives 
