Second Air NZ strike begins

Air New Zealand is braced for another clutch of 11 cancelled international flights today, as about 1000 long-haul cabin attendants launch their second 48-hour strike.

Although renewed pay talks with the Flight Attendants and Related Services Association continued for a second day yesterday, the airline will again reduce international services by about 30 per cent.

Six to and from Asia, two across the Tasman and three on Pacific Island sectors have been cancelled.

The airline has cancelled 85 flights over six days of threatened strikes until Monday, on which about 15,000 passengers were booked.

Dozens of passengers have been falling through the cracks of efforts to contact them, however, and have been turning up for cancelled flights.

Although the company and the union returned to talks not far apart on pay, the company having offered a 3.3 per cent rise against a 3.8 per cent union claim, several conditions remained unresolved.

These include crewing levels for new Boeing 777s, leave entitlements and meal money.