Covid 19 coronavirus: Air New Zealand proposes 385 more jobs for cabin crew

Air New Zealand proposes to lay off around 385 more cabin crew by December.

The national airline has already had casualties of more than 4,000 employees since the Covid-19 restrictions took effect in March.

Among them there are around 900 medium to long-haul crew.

An email sent to staff said the airline had 385 more cabin crew than currently employed.

Air New Zealand Chief Operating Officer Carrie Hurihanganui confirmed the plan, saying it was in response to declining demand on North American routes.

“We have reduced our Los Angeles flights from daily to three roundtrip flights per week and have converted all of our San Francisco flights into cargo services,” he said.

“We recognize that a reduced schedule will require fewer cabin crew in the future and we are working on what this means for the team.”

The dismissals were a “last resort” and any decision would be made in consultation with staff and unions.

“We appreciate that our cabin crew has already made significant sacrifices throughout Covid-19, but unfortunately our international hours are still severely limited by border restrictions and unfortunately there are not enough flights to provide sustainable rosters for the number of crew we have. “Hurihanganui said.

Union Etū has criticized the decision to make further cuts at Air New Zealand, calling on the airline to stop outsourcing.

E tū Aviation Chief Savage said there is no operational reason for Air New Zealand to maintain a crew base in Shanghai.

“When you get back to work, you have to go back to the Auckland cabin crew.

“For the company to focus on immediate labor costs, regardless of the big picture, is shortsighted and detrimental to all aviation workers.”

Savage said the airline and the jobs it provides are a vital piece of New Zealand’s infrastructure.

An E tū member who wanted to remain anonymous said the proposal is “devastating” for the crew.

“Every time we’re cabin crew, we think we’ll get a break and go back to doing what we love: we keep getting hit.

“We have already lost 900 crewmembers from medium to long haul. We want Air New Zealand to prosper and we want to save jobs in New Zealand. Our goal is for the airline to recover as quickly as possible so that we can start to win back our colleagues “.

Air New Zealand reported an underlying loss of $ 87 million for the 2020 financial year, compared to earnings of $ 387 million last year.

Covid-19 has eliminated its first half result and pre-tax statutory losses, which include $ 541 million of other major items, were $ 628 million, compared to last year’s $ 382 million profit.

The after-tax loss was $ 454 million.