Air New Zealand job cuts underway, sources say – senior roles understood to be targeted
The Herald has been told roughly a dozen senior, likely non-union employees at the airline have been impacted. Photo / Supplied
The Herald understands Air New Zealand has commenced job cut proposals as part of the “reset” announced earlier this year.
The E tū union today said no flight attendants, baggage handlers, engineers, front-of-house staff or any of its other members were impacted.
The Herald has been told roughly a dozen senior employees at the airline have been impacted.
Air New Zealand has been approached for comment.
The airline was already in a parlous financial position before the current jet fuel price crisis.
Air New Zealand lost $40 million after tax in the first half of this financial year.
In late February, new chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar said it was too early to say if redundancies were likely.
That $40m loss was for the six months to December 31, before the Iran-Israel-US war broke out.
The war and subsequent impacts to Strait of Hormuz shipping have been blamed for record-high jet fuel prices.
Craigs analysts have estimated Air New Zealand could lose $427m this financial year, which ends on June 30.
Craigs senior research analyst Wade Gardiner estimated the inflated jet fuel price since early March added about US$2m ($3.4m) a day to the airline’s fuel costs.
Forsyth Barr analysts Andy Bowley and Hugh Lockwood in April suggested Air New Zealand would lose $229m this financial year and $148m the next before turning a profit.
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
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