Air NZ recruits laid-off staff
Air NZ recruits laid-off staff
By ROELAND van den BERGH | Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Air New Zealand is trying to re-employ more than 80 engineering staff, just 10 months after laying off 300 to save the large-aircraft maintenance business.
In February more than 2000 engineering staff, faced with the closure of the Auckland heavy maintenance base and the loss of 617 jobs, agreed to sweeping labour reforms to save $48 million over five years.
The need for staff comes after the airline won two big contracts to install in-flight entertainment systems for Virgin Blue and British charter carrier Thomsonfly.
Air New Zealand would also conduct heavy maintenance checks on Thomsonfly's nine Boeing 767-300s.
Technical operations general manager Chris Nassenstein said 37 recruits were needed at the Auckland wide-body and Christchurch narrow-body maintenance bases.
Another 46 temporary staff were needed in Christchurch for the 10-month Virgin Blue contract.
Aviation and Marine Engineers' Association secretary George Ryde said the airline was struggling to attract enough workers.
It was surprising additional staff were required so soon after the redundancies, he said. "The ink is hardly dry on that agreement."
The union had asked many of the redundant engineers to come back, but there had been few takers.
Potential candidates had been scared off by the bitter fight over the engineering business as well as the continuing instability of the global aviation industry, he said.
Young people were also not applying for engineering apprenticeships with Air New Zealand or the Christchurch Engine Centre joint venture with United States engine maker Pratt and Whitney.
"That is partly to do with the fact that people don't feel it is such a secure industry to spend a lot of time and money training up, without any real guarantees about what is at the end of the training," Mr Ryde said.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said other engineering contracts were in the pipeline from northern hemisphere airlines.
Engineering capacity was more than 90 per cent filled for the financial year - as full as was reasonably achievable, Mr Fyfe said.
The Virgin Blue and Thomsonfly work were the result of the new employment contract, struck with unions, which made the business internationally competitive, he said.