Passengers unaware of Air NZ strike

Flights were cancelled at Auckland Airport today. Picture / Fotopress

Passengers are arriving at airports unaware their Air New Zealand flights have been cancelled by strike action.

Flight attendants and the airline are at loggerheads over pay demands and the flight attendants began a series of strikes today.

The action was expected to lead to the cancellation of up to 15 flights a day, mostly to Asia. Some Pacific flights would also be affected. Four flights had been cancelled by lunchtime today.

The airline said it had been unable to contact all the passengers and some were still turning up at international airports, unaware of the strike action or the cancellations.

Airline spokesman Ed Sims says passengers on a flight to Singapore were told their flight has been cancelled. It has had trouble contacting some passengers on package tours to update them of the situation.

A series of 48-hour strikes will take place today, Thursday and Sunday. Air New Zealand said they would cost at least $4 million and damage the airline's international reputation as a tourism operator.

The union representing 1000 flight attendants wants a 3.8 per cent wage increase for each of the next three years. But the airline has offered 3.3 per cent in the first year, 3.4 per cent next year and 3.3 per cent in 2007.

The union also wants more crew, particularly on new Boeing 777 flights. The airline said it would also continue talks for more leave and meal allowances.

The union claims were expected to cost $14.2 million. The airline said it could afford only $7.5 million.

Mr Sims said no flights around New Zealand would be affected.

He said flights worst affected would be to Asia, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Taipei and the industrial action would affect 15,000 passengers.

"I deeply regret that. That is extreme inconvenience," he told NewstalkZB today.

Mr Sims said about 10 per cent of the 135 flights to Australia would be cancelled this week by the strike.

He said he was disappointed the union, the Flight Attendants and Related Service Association (FARSA), had set "unrealistic" expectations for their demands.

FARSA spokeswoman, Heather Stanley, said the union was also disappointed the strike had to go ahead and it had hoped the airline would have spoken to it again before the strike.

She said: "Industrial action does send a message to a company about our intentions. We are very close to making an agreement, it is just a shame that although we are so close, we are so far apart."

She added: "It is not just about pay. There is a lot more. We are talking about meals claims for the flight attendants on international flights, also crewing levels on the 777 aircraft."

- NZPA, NEWSTALK ZB