Air New Zealand calls in non-union flight attendants from Shanghai to plug the gaps

E tū'union says Air New Zealand ‘’insists’' on using non-unionised Shanghai-based cabin crew to operate flights.

But the airline says the crew, believed to number about 20, are being used to fill gaps over summer as it struggles to hire quickly enough to staff planes during the busy holiday period.

About 60 Air New Zealand crew were furloughed early in the pandemic and E tū' aviation team leader Scott Mackie said the company has brought some of them back to New Zealand to operate flights out of Auckland, instead of rehiring former Air New Zealand crew who are based in the city.

‘‘The Shanghai crew are less versatile than other crew, as for immigration reasons, they are unable to fly to Taiwan or any Canadian or United States destination,’' he said.

Air New Zealand chief people officer Nikki Dines said the Shanghai crew’s ability to work for the airline during summer has been approved by Immigration New Zealand, which was satisfied there will not be any negative impact on job opportunities for New Zealanders.

‘‘These flight attendants are very much part of the Air New Zealand family, and they will be seconded to work in New Zealand for a short period to help us over the busy summer period as we continue to recruit and train both previous and new crew,’' she said.

‘’While there are some restrictions they have from a visa perspective, this does not impact on their productivity or their ability to provide a valued flying experience for our customers.’'

Dines said the airline was continuing to hold weekly recruitment events to increase cabin crew numbers in New Zealand.

Nikki Dines, Air New Zealand's chief people officer. Photo / Supplied

‘‘We have been recruiting at pace, rehiring and bringing on more than 2100 pilots, cabin crew, airport and contact centre staff and engineers, with more than 1110 cabin crew being welcomed back or hired since January. Our training facility is humming and we’re going as fast as we can to get people onboard. Our experienced Shanghai-based flight attendants, who flew for Air New Zealand pre-Covid, are stepping up to help,’' she said.

Flight Attendants Association of NZ president Craig Featherby said he would prefer the Shanghai staff to be in a union if they wanted, but if they needed help or support his organisation would offer it.

‘‘Whether they’re members or not - you’ve got to look after each other.’’

He said the airline had consulted the association on numbers of Shanghai staff.

‘‘It’s literally the bare minimum and that’s why we agreed to it,’' he said.

More crew would help lighten the load on staff who may have been laid off or stood down during the worst of the pandemic and now were working hard as aviation recovered quickly. The airline wanted to cover for illness or operational problems such as aircraft diversions.

Staff would be more likely to be able to take much-needed leave and because the Shanghai crew couldn’t fly the North American routes it meant that crew here could bid for the desirable routes.

‘‘Both unions are watching to make sure the company is doing right by the employees.’'

Airlines in other countries were not doing so well by their staff, said Featherby.

‘’I do have to give Air New Zealand management full credit to his own management on this one.’'

The charter of Spanish wet lease operator Wamos to fly the Auckland-Perth route over summer would also help alleviate pressure on Air New Zealand staff.

His association had grown from 100 to 500 members as the company had added staff.