Around 300 Air New Zealand pilots are being made redundant this week, with the 900 remaining taking a pay cut of around 30 per cent.
The New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association (NZALPA) confirmed the latest development today.
Air New Zealand has struggled through the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, with staff across its pilot and cabin crews facing redundancies.
Routes have been slashed and planes grounded as countries around the world shut their borders and tourism dries up.
Some of the pilots are taking voluntary redundancy or accepting early retirement, NZALPA says.
The national carrier continues to struggle as travel numbers have turned into a trickle.
"We’d been in talks with Air New Zealand for a number of weeks to save as many pilots’ jobs as possible and ensure a fair process for getting other pilots back in the air once the recovery gets underway," NZALPA president Captain Andrew Ridling says.
Around 900 pilots will stay employed, but their pay will be cut an equivalent of 30 per cent over the next nine months.
Some pilots will be furloughed, taking leave without pay for up to 10 years.
Those pilots will be able to take voluntary redundancy within the next three years and can still accept employment elsewhere.
Mr Ridling says it's the "best possible outcome in these unique circumstances".
"The affected pilots (redundant and furloughed) will be the first to be called back in by the airline when aviation starts to recover," he says.
Rachel Reese says Nelson depends strongly on air travel for tourism – but “the tap’s been turned off”.
"There are challenges with so much uncertainty surrounding economic recovery, and the recovery of the aviation sector in particular."
Air New Zealand has slashed its flight offerings through Alert Levels 3 and 4, including domestic flights.
"We are continuously reviewing our schedule and we expect our network will increase as New Zealand moves down the alert levels," the airline says.
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