Wellington Airport steps up cleaning measures

Wellington Airport has carried out an additional review of cleaning practices. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Cleaning of key touch points has been stepped up at Wellington Airport and employees are being encouraged to work from home with flexible hours.

It comes as three more cases of coronavirus have this afternoon been confirmed in Wellington and Dunedin.

A Wellington man in his 30s and his father aged in his 70s had recently returned from the United States. Neither require hospital care. They arrived in Auckland on American Airlines flight AA83 from Los Angeles on Saturday, March 14.

The younger man was unwell on the flight, the father became unwell about a day later.

The pair then flew from Auckland to Wellington on Air New Zealand flight NZ419 in seats 1B and 1C.

The two men had been picked up from Wellington Airport, then spent the weekend at home. They called ahead before going to the doctor, which was the correct thing to do, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said at a press conference today.

A Wellington Airport spokesman said they were working closely with the Ministry of Health, Civil Aviation Authority, and border agencies to ensure the health and safety of passengers and all people working at the airport.

"We have always set strict cleanliness standards to ensure the highest level of service quality for passengers and visitors. However, we had already carried out an additional review of our cleaning practices to help prevent the spread of infection.

"This includes stepping up the cleaning of key touch points, such as door handles, check-in counters and touch screens, handrails and public phones and ensuring all cleaning products are fully effective against the virus."

Wellington Airport employees have also been encouraged to work from home and with flexible hours where possible, he said.

The need for airlines to scale back capacity and a decline in the number of travellers would inevitably have a "short-term impact" on Wellington Airport, the spokesman said.

"But it is a resilient and diverse organisation.

"It was pleasing to see the Government announcement today that will provide comfort to many business that operate in the tourism industry. We are continuing to monitor the situation and work with our airline partners."

Earlier today the Government unveiled a $12.1 billion support package for the New Zealand economy, with almost half of the cash to be spent on a wage subsidy package for all coronavirus-impacted businesses.

Wellington Airport would not comment on whether its chief executive would take a pay cut.

But the coronavirus outbreak has prompted Auckland Airport to cancel its interim dividend and directors and its chief executive are taking a 20 per cent pay cut.

Chief executive Adrian Littlewood said it was a difficult decision after further information from airlines about flight cancellations.

Littlewood's total remuneration in the last financial year was $2.4 million. His base salary was $1.28m and this was subject to the cut - equivalent to $240,000.