Coronavirus: Over 400 NZ pilots could lose their jobs - NZALPA warns

NZ Herald

20 Mar, 2020 01:17 AM2 mins to read

Over 400 highly trained New Zealand pilots could be forced to find work overseas. Photo / 123RF

The president of the New Zealand Air Line Pilots' Association has warned over 400 New Zealand pilots risk losing their jobs if government measures aren't taken to support them.

Earlier this week both Qantas and Virgin Australia announced they would reduce domestic capacity and suspended all international flights.

Captain Andrew Ridling said New Zealand is in real danger of losing highly trained and specialist professional pilots.

"This will happen if they are forced to go overseas and work for airlines in recovering offshore markets, if there is no employment incentive to stay," Ridling said.

"Over 400 New Zealand pilots are about to 'fall through the gap', caught between Canberra and Wellington responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Neither Canberra nor Wellington are putting steps in place to support these highly trained and dedicated professionals."

Qantas, of which Jetconnect Ltd and Jetstar are wholly-owned subsidiaries, announced its international capacity would be reduced by 100 per cent from the end of March to at least the end of May 2020.

Virgin also suspended international flights from March 30 to June 14, 2020, saying staff redundancies would be "unavoidable".

"We are very concerned about the potential loss of jobs for our 208 Virgin Australia New Zealand (VANZ), 127 Jetconnect and 81 Jetstar pilot members," Ridling said.

"VANZ operates trans-Tasman and Pacific Island flights, and our Jetconnect members fly trans-Tasman on behalf of Qantas. With both these airlines forced to ground their entire international operations, the pilots' livelihoods are now in jeopardy if they remain in New Zealand.

"While we understand the pressure New Zealand is under at the moment we will suffer even more economically if we lose these extremely valuable employees."