Air New Zealand has slammed planned strike action by pilots from subsidiary Air Nelson and says it will impact heavily on school holiday travel.
The strike is for three days from tomorrow and follows lengthy, unsuccessful negotiations between the parties involving pay and conditions.
New Zealand Airline Pilots'Association (Alpa) executive director Rick Mirkin said the pilots wanted a pay rise and changes to rostering, which currently allows only one weekend off each month.
Bruce Parton, general manager of the Air Nelson wing, said the pilots' union didn't appreciate the challenging commercial environment the company was operating in and the impact of skyrocketing fuel costs.
"Alpa's claims are unsustainable and in total would cost Air Nelson more than $8 million annually," he said.
"Their claims around time off, including weekends, would require Air Nelson to employ more than 30 additional pilots at an annual cost of more than $3.5 million.
"Other claims relating to rostering, pay and allowances would cost the company a further $4.5 million."
Mr Parton said acceding to the claims would put the company in the position of having to pass the costs on to customers.
"We have worked too hard to make low-cost travel accessible to customers in regional New Zealand to be forced into having to hike fares so that 160 pilots can enjoy a longer weekend," he said.
Mr Parton said he considered the pilots had fair working conditions, including good annual leave provisions and generous working hours.
The Nelson-based pilots were also among the city's top wage earners, with captains earning over $97,000 annually and all having had generous pay increases over the past few years.
The strike was a direct attack on the commercial viability of a business that serviced about 50,000 people a week, Mr Parton said.
Mr Mirkin said the pilots were not well paid, but the sticking point was the unsatisfactory work/life balance they endured.
He said realistically pilots were often stuck at work until 11pm and had been pushing for rostering relief for a year.
