Air NZ to cut 100 jobs after Hercules refit delay

An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft. Photo / Supplied.

Air New Zealand engineering subsidiary Safe Air in Blenheim is planning to cut 100 jobs from its workforce, after delays in a contract to refurbish Air Force Hercules aircraft.

In a press release just issued, Air New Zealand group general manager of technical operations Vanessa Stoddart said consultation had begun with staff this morning on reducing the workforce of 351 by around 100 positions.

This was as a result of more than 18 months of delays in the delivery of Royal New Zealand Air Force C130 aircraft for major upgrade work under a contract with Canadian company, SPAR Aerospace.

SPAR, the lead contractor in the C130 overhaul programme, told Safe Air of an indefinite postponement to the programme in December last year.

The release goes on to say that SPAR Aerospace in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence awarded Safe Air the contract in 2005 to carry out the work on four RNZAF C130 aircraft.

"As a result Safe Air increased its workforce and made significant investments in equipment and facilities for the planned arrival of the first aircraft in August 2008."

Engineering, printing and manufacturing union national secretary Andrew Little said the union would work closely with its members and with Air New Zealand to make sure as few members are displaced as possible.

He said it was understood the work will now be conducted by SPAR Aerospace in Canada.

"These are highly skilled, relatively highly paid jobs and any redundancies will be a huge blow to the Blenheim community and to the local economy," said Little.

He said the EPMU represented 200 members at Safe Air.

The Hercules work, said Air NZ, included "major structural refurbishments, such as the replacement of the centre wing, as well as modifications to major avionics systems, including installation of a new "glass" flight deck, navigation and communication suites and night vision."

Vanessa Stoddart said Safe Air was advised of successive delays for the scheduled arrival of the first aircraft - culminating in the advice in December that the first aircraft was delayed indefinitely.

"We have worked hard to mitigate the impact of this lengthy delay through generating additional work for Safe Air, including transferring Air New Zealand aircraft maintenance to Blenheim to keep staff employed while awaiting the arrival of these military aircraft."

"However, due to the uncertainty of work in the pipeline created by the SPAR notification, we have now reached the point where we need to reduce the workforce by around 100 people. If we don't make this tough move, Safe Air will incur significant losses that would put the jobs of the remaining workforce in jeopardy."

Stoddart said consultation with the affected staff and union representatives was expected to finish in March, when the final decision on the exact number of job losses would be determined.