New Zealand's second airline has won the struggle with its pilots over a new contract, but it is dogged by reports that it is preparing the airline for sale.
Ansett New Zealand and its pilots have been at odds most of this year over a company demand that they boost flying hours from 560 to 750. The airline will pay for the extra hours, but increased productivity will allow it to lay off 35 of its 146 pilots and save NZ$4.7 million ($2.4 million) annually.
The pilots responded with a series of one-day strikes in August and a September sick-out. The airline obtained government approval for a lockout and permission to hire foreign replacements. In mid-October the pilots' union gave up the fight and accepted the contract.
Ansett NZ is trying to play down suggestions that its parent, News Corp, told it to improve productivity to make the airline more attractive for sale. News Corp has said it would like to sell Ansett NZ, hoping that Qantas Airways might buy it. Ansett NZ insists the demand it is making of its pilots "is not part of a sales strategy". News Corp has ordered the airline "to make the business successful and profitable," but its "primary objective is to return to profitability".
The airline has lost money for the past two years and has accumulated losses since 1987 of NZ$250 million. But a company letter to the pilots' union, first reported by sister on-line service Air Transport Intelligence explains that pilot contracts must change "to reflect market conditions to progress the ownership change and commercial turn-around of the company". It adds that News Corp is "committed to a change of ownership and will not be thwarted. Ownership change is essential to the company's long-term commercial success".
Source: Airline Business
