Flights cancelled even if row settled

Air New Zealand was last night in pay talks with striking cabin crew, while continuing to deny a settlement would allow it to restore cancelled flights.

The talks began yesterday afternoon, despite a claim by the Flight Attendants and Related Services Association that the airline had indicated earlier it would not negotiate until after a wave of strikes by about 1000 long-haul crew members.

They ended their first 48-hour strike last night, but are due to walk off the job again at midnight tomorrow failing a settlement of their pay dispute. The sides are not far apart on pay. Air NZ has offered a 3.3 per cent salary rise against a union claim for 3.8 per cent.

But issues unresolved from earlier negotiations included union claims for an extra day's annual leave, increased meal allowances, and a larger crew than the airline's proposal of 10 flight attendants for its new Boeing 777s.

Air NZ has cancelled 85 international flights for the duration of three strikes, the last of which is due to end next Monday night, and estimated about 15,000 passengers would be disrupted.

Union industrial officer Heather Stanley said the airline should be able to reinstate some flights if the next two strikes are called off, but the company strongly denied that.

"That is inconceivable," said international general manager Ed Sims.

"That schedule is sunk - we can't just put empty planes in the air."

Another official said several dozen passengers turned up yesterday for flights that had been cancelled.

Aircraft-maker Boeing yesterday intervened in the dispute, saying Air NZ's plan to use 10 crew on 777s was in line with its recommendations and was what other airlines used.

But Ms Stanley said that was just one more than the Civil Aviation Authority's safety requirement for a bare minimum of crew needed to operate emergency exits, and did not take into account other work such as providing full meals and bar services.

She said the union's claim for 11 crew was to prevent fatigue, and was therefore a health and safety issue.

Several flight attendants contacted the Herald yesterday, upset by a claim by the company that long-haul crew in its premium section earn about $61,500 a year plus $20,000 in tax-free allowances.

One crew member claimed never to have earned that much during long service with the airline.

The attendant, who did not want to be identified, said the figure given by the airline would have been of an extreme example of someone working constantly on 12- to 13-hour flights.

Another said a flight attendant would have to be out of New Zealand for eight months a year to receive the claimed salary.

Air NZ's salary figure included overtime for crew flying regularly from Auckland to Los Angeles, and the tax-free allowances covered meal money and expenses of US$100 ($148) a day when attendants are waiting in the United States to return to New Zealand.

Ms Stanley would not disclose her members' basic salaries, but said they were "well below" $60,000 and if they earned as much as the company stated, they would not be embroiled in a pay dispute.

But Mr Sims insisted most attendants were of sufficient seniority to be at the top of a salary range of $49,000 to $61,500 which included a standard overtime component of 33 per cent.