Court battle looms over pilots' strike

An Air New Zealand pilots union will fight the company's bid for an injunction to stop pilots striking on the weekend beginning July 19.

Air Line Pilots' Association industrial manager Garth McGearty was "not surprised" by the company's move, which followed the failure of a meeting on Monday to avert the strike.

The association represents 500 of the airline's pilots.

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The company said yesterday that it would take legal action in the Employment Court to avert what it saw as an unnecessary, unjustified and unlawful strike.

Air NZ pointed out that the weekend of July 19-21 was during the final phase of the election campaign and the rugby test between the All Blacks and Springboks in Wellington was to be played then.

The strike may strand several of New Zealand's best hopes for medals at the Manchester Commonwealth Games. Squash, netball, rugby sevens and weightlifting teams are booked to fly to Britain on July 21.

Air NZ said details of flight schedules and other arrangements would be announced shortly.

Pilots are concerned about job security as Air NZ plans to surrender some of its routes to budget subsidiary Freedom Air.

Pilots want to be able to swap between flying for Air NZ and Freedom on the same terms and conditions.

- NZPA