Air New Zealand is warning thousands of passengers to brace for disruption as its unionised international cabin crews prepare to go on strike.
The airline has already cancelled 44 flights and adjusted schedules before industrial action planned for Thursday and Friday by the Flight Attendants’ Association of New Zealand (FAANZ).
The strike, which will affect most wide-body aircraft services, follows weeks of negotiations between the national carrier and unions E tū and FAANZ over pay and conditions.
Air NZ’s chief customer and digital officer Jeremy O’Brien told Newstalk ZB the strike has forced the cancellation of most long-haul services to Asia and North America.
“We’ve actually provided re-accommodation options for all of the impacted customers on the flights two to three days either side of the strike days,” he said.
“For not every customer that’s going to be suitable, and for those customers, they’re entitled to and should request either a credit to fly later or a refund.”
O’Brien described the strike as a “controllable disruption”, saying the airline had taken steps to minimise its effect on passengers.
“We have limited the impact on our Tasman and Pacific Island flying because we’re able to put on our narrow-body aircraft - so the smaller jets - on those flights,” he said.
“And then for those long-haul flights, we have provided alternative options, both on Air New Zealand two to three days before or after, but also alternatives across our Star Alliance and other partner airlines.
“So we’ve exhausted every single way in which we can re-accommodate passengers as close as possible to their original travel date.”
Speaking to Ryan Bridge TODAY, Air NZ’s chief people officer Nikki Dines said the dispute had been narrowed down to pay.
“The pay increases we’ve offered are between 4.14% and 6.41%. So [the unions are] still asking for more,” she said.
Dines said the offer applied to the first year of a proposed two-and-a-half-year agreement, with further increases in years two and three, and that the company was already offering increases above inflation.
About 16,000 customers had been affected by the industrial action so far, including those facing flight cancellations and timing changes, and all had been contacted to re-accommodate them on different dates or airlines, Dines said.
“If that’s not feasible for them, they are entitled to either a refund or a credit.”
Dines confirmed the next step would be facilitated bargaining through the Employment Relations Authority, adding that any further strike action would require at least 14 days’ notice.
From the union’s perspective, FAANZ president Craig Featherby said cabin crew had already provided expected pay figures during mediation and were wanting to reach a threshold higher than Air NZ has so far offered.
“Those percentages sound great. As we know, the New Zealand economy is struggling overall with inflation at 3.1%,” he said.
“However, even with those numbers, that will only just see crew this year getting to the living wage.”
Featherby said the union was pushing for base pay to be above the living wage — currently just over $60,000 or $28.95 an hour — but would ideally like to see it start at $62,000.
“We’re very close ... we’ve got facilitated bargaining next, which I think both unions welcome.”
Featherby urged passengers not to avoid booking with Air NZ, saying cabin crew and the airline alike wanted the dispute resolved.
“Our members love their jobs. They’re the safety ambassadors of Air New Zealand and they represent New Zealand to the world,” he said.
“We want passengers to continue to have that exceptional service on board. But we just have to get through the next couple of months with the negotiations that are currently taking place.”
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