Air New Zealand to begin union consultation over jobs threat

Air New Zealand has agreed to enter into a formal 58-day consultation period with unions representing nearly 1700 people whose jobs are under threat.

The airline said it was being forced to look at replacing or restructuring the airport services division unless the division could become drastically more competitive.

The company's 1675 airport services staff handle processes from check-in to luggage handling for Air New Zealand and other airlines at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch airports.

Air New Zealand group general manager Vanessa Stoddart said improvements needed to be made in the wake of the losses of several major handling contracts from Singapore Airline, Jetstar and Qantas domestic.

As part of the 58-day process, Air New Zealand will be sharing details of a bid from a third party outlining the improvements it says it can make.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national secretary Andrew Little said the union would be studying all of the relevant financial information, including the bid from the third party.

Air New Zealand had told the union it could save $20 million by going to a third party supplier, and the union would be closely examining all of the relevant information to see if this was borne out.

Mr Little said what happened from there depended on what the information revealed - if the union accepted such a saving could be made, it would put forward a new proposal.

Ms Stoddart said the company's "strong preference" was to develop a competitive in-house solution.

"However, if we can't do that Air New Zealand will be forced to look to a third party airport services provider to deliver this service, just as all other airlines flying into and out of New Zealand do," says Ms Stoddart.

Approximately 45 per cent of the revenue in airport services came from third party airline customers and these customers were making it clear they no longer felt Air New Zealand was competitive.

Also today, the airline announced it was considering closing its call centre in Christchurch in March, throwing into question a further 86 jobs.

Air New Zealand said customer demand for the call centres had dropped significantly following the advent of online internet bookings.

It was expected some of the 86 people employed at the Christchurch centre would be able to relocate to one of the two Auckland centres.

Air New Zealand will consult with staff and union representatives to seek feedback on the proposal before making a final decision on November 3.

Group general manager Norm Thompson said just under 50 per cent of New Zealand customers now booked online for both domestic and trans-Tasman travel.

Mr Little said the centre was a busy one, and the union believed there was sufficient traffic to remain open.

If the centre did close, he was unsure how many staff members would want to transfer from Christchurch to Auckland.

- NZPA