They probably could not sack him for the contract f@#k up but put him in a new job that really does piss all and there is probably someone in the miriad of jobs at air nz that already does that anyway.
So what are they doing, give it time to settle and you will probably find that he will slip out quietly with a fat bonus or something...
As for an amalgimation of the links, whay would that be so bad, less cost in the management side has to be good. Just alot of issues with the merger but hey if it saves our jobs and makes the group more profitable then bring it on.
I suspect that it wont happen as there would be to much power in the regional when it comes to negs, but still similar to the freedom merger. Interesting times with the recession only just starting to hit nz.