Air New Zealand (ANZ) has embarked on a four-year strategic plan that includes a management and business restructuring and a 15% reduction of the workforce, writes Emma Kelly.
The restructuring is to deliver cost savings of NZ$245 million ($147 million) annually from 2007, says Ralph Norris, chief executive and managing director.
The plan sees the departure of chief operating officer Andrew Miller and the creation of general manager positions. The business is being split into airlines and ventures, which will introduce "bottom line accountability", says Norris. Rob Fyfe, formerly chief information officer, becomes group general manager airlines, responsible for mainline operations, plus regional subsidiaries.
This will not include low-cost operator Freedom Air, which will come under the new ventures group, headed by group general manager Craig Sinclair (formerly senior vice-president operations and technical). Norris denies this is to make Freedom easier to sell, rather that it needs a different reporting line. The ventures group includes Air New Zealand Engineering Services, terminal services and cargo operations.
Most cuts to the 10,000-strong workforce will come through attrition, says Norris.
ANZ has not given up on an alliance with Qantas. The New Zealand Commerce Commission is due to release its final determination by 24 October. US government studies real-time cockpit video
The US government is considering acquiring cockpit video cameras to download real-time images of pilots working in the cockpit. The argument is that it would give early warning to ground-based agencies of hijackings or other problems on board commercial flights.
Boeing has demonstrated a satellite-linked system to the Federal Aviation Administration in two test flights this year. The company has described the trials as "successful".
Most US pilots have fiercely opposed cameras in cockpits as an infringement of their privacy. More importantly, they fear that agencies on the ground could misinterpret video images and give orders based on incomplete information, or worse still, scramble fighters armed ready to shoot the aircraft down.
Those in favour of a video system argue it would make air travel safer by reducing the consequences of terrorism or hijacking, and many argue strongly that it would help determine what went wrong in an accident, being as valuable to investigators as the introduction of the cockpit voice recorder, which pilots had also once opposed as intrusive.
Source: Flight International
