Qantas New Zealand in receivership

Qantas New Zealand has been placed in receivership early this morning.

Flights on the domestic airline, which is owned by Tasman Pacific Airlines, were stopped at 10.40 pm last night and receivers Michael Stiassny and Grant Graham of Ferrier Hodgson were appointed at 3.25 am.

Passengers have been stranded around the country today as the school holidays come to an end and Mr Stiassny said the first priority was dealing with passengers scheduled to fly with the airline.

At Auckland airport, Qantas NZ ticket-holders were facing long queues and long delays.

Air New Zealand said it would accept Qantas tickets for travel as Qantas New Zealand's franchisor, Qantas Australia, will honour all tickets.

Spokesperson David Beatson said Air New Zealand had scheduled an extra 20 flights today to help move about 7,000 Qantas passengers.

An additional 737 flight between Christchurch and Auckland has been scheduled for this afternoon, as well as extra flights between Christchurch and Wellington, Blenheim and Wellington and Nelson and Wellington.

Air New Zealand advises passengers to go directly to airport counters to arrange their travel, and Mr Beatson said Qantas NZ ticket-holders should expect a four-hour delay.

Origin Pacific will also provide extra flights today.

Tasman Pacific Airlines shareholders said today that they were "deeply disappointed" the airline had been placed in receivership.

Tasman Pacific entered into a franchise relationship with Qantas Australia last June after buying Ansett New Zealand for $36.5 million.

The airline used a fleet of eight 90-seater BAe146 whisper jets, five 40-seat Dash 8-102 aircraft and two 50-seater Dash 8-311s.

The shareholders said the airline had experienced difficult trading conditions in the past year, "directly as a result of the increase in fuel prices and the decrease of the New Zealand dollar."

However, they said they had been positive about the future of Qantas New Zealand, which had been steadily regaining market share.

Over the past few weeks Tasman Pacific had been investigating a range of options to keep the troubled airline flying, including the possibility of Qantas Australia buying the franchise.

But the shareholders said Wellington Airport's insistence that two months' in landing fees be paid immediately, or Qantas planes would be denied permission to land, had made the receivership "inevitable."

Qantas New Zealand's 1100 workers, including 140 pilots and 180 cabin crew, now face an uncertain future.

Mr Stiassny said there was "not a lot of good news" for Qantas NZ staff.

"In insolvency we always try to sell it as a going concern ... here, we're looking at an asset sale. We won't be needing the staff for the long term."

He said the preferential maximum due to workers was about $6000.

He said receivers tried to contact the first shift staff before they started work this morning.

"I don't think it was a surprise to them at all.

"The company has been in some difficulty for some time and there have been a lot of rumours about."

However, staff arriving for work this morning said they were turned away by security guards.

* Qantas New Zealand ticketholders can call toll free 0800-726-827 for information.