Air New Zealand has finally confirmed what most people knew - its Wanganui Holidays Store is closing and the three staff may lose their jobs.
Last month the airline confirmed it was selling off 10 of its 22 stores to another travel operator but would not say if the Wanganui store was one of those or who the potential buyer was.
But yesterday Cam Wallace, Air NZ chief sales and commercial officer, confirmed that the Wanganui store was not among those which had been sold.
Mr Wallace said the airline entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Helloworld, a leading travel company in Australia and New Zealand.
"At this time Helloworld has confirmed it will purchase a number of Holidays Stores and any stores not purchased are due to close at the end of November. The Wanganui store is not part of the sale and purchase agreement, so it would be closing on Friday week.
"We're working with the three staff in this store to identify possible redeployment options within Air New Zealand. "Where this is not possible, these staff will be eligible for redundancy compensation," he said.
The decision was outlined at a meeting of Holiday Store staff in Auckland in October. After that meeting Mr Wallace said the travel business was rapidly evolving "and we've determined that retail stores are no longer core business for the airline".
In September last year, the Wanganui store moved to the Bank of New Zealand building. At the time, Air NZ said the move was one of a series of similar co-locations around the country and meant BNZ and Air NZ customers were able to take care of their travel bookings and banking needs in one place.