Air NZ slams 'farcical' law, forced to can flights

Air New Zealand says it's being forced to cancel some regional services from Wednesday because of a new law about rest breaks for control tower staff.

The airline said today 25 services to and from Gisborne, Napier, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Invercargill were involved.

The situation was "farcical", airline group general manager, short haul airlines, Bruce Parton said.

He said the move would cost the airline $3 million in lost revenue and force the loss of 2500 seats each week from regional capacity.

Passengers would face disruption and lower frequencies of flights.

He blamed the cancellation of services on the "inflexibility" of air traffic controllers represented by the New Zealand Air Line Pilots Association (NZALPA).

"Under changes to the Employment Relations Act...NZALPA is insisting that members take their breaks at scheduled times rather than working flexibly as they have in the past," he said in a statement.

Air New Zealand understood the Civil Aviation Authority would be forced to close five towers twice each day for 30 to 45 minutes.

Mr Parton added: "We appear to be the victims of an overly rigid dictate to business on how to achieve a healthy and safe workplace."

He said the reduction in regional services was a "devastating blow" and urged regional mayors and tourism operators to lobby NZALPA strong for a change to its stance.

- NZPA could not contact NZALPA immediately for a response.

- NZPA