As sickness levels continue to rise and cause disruption, Air New Zealand is taking proactive actions to protect the travel plans of its customers.
Over the next six months, the airline will operate a narrowly reduced schedule of 1.5 percent fewer seats than initially planned, meaning a change to some flights.
Most customers who experience a flight change will be automatically transferred to another flight on the same day for domestic travel and on the same day or a day on either side of their original booking for international travel. Customers who cannot be accommodated within these timeframes may change their booking online, opt into credit or request a refund. For those with further onward connections that may also be disrupted, Air New Zealand will work directly with impacted customers.
According to Greg Foran, Chief Executive Officer at Air New Zealand, these changes will offer customers advance notice and help them deliver more reliable service during their rebuild.
"Like many airlines around the world, we've been ramping up our operation at a time when Covid and the flu continue to impact the aviation industry. Looking at the disruptions our customers and staff have faced over the past five weeks, we've made some adjustments to reduce short-notice cancellations in the months ahead."
"While we did factor sickness into our ramp-up plan, we've seen the highest rates of crew sickness in over a decade. We see these challenges continuing not just for crew, but for our whole operation, and so we're making proactive changes to address them."
Reducing the number of flights means Air New Zealand can have crew on standby to cover illness, which has not been possible lately.
"We're pulling out all the stops to minimise disruption and provide surety for our customers over the next six months. We have rehired or brought on more than 2,000 pilots, airport staff, cabin crew, contact centre and engineers, and we're going as fast as possible with recruitment and training."
The airline is also exploring options to lease a crewed widebody aircraft for the upcoming busy summer.
"We know customers want the Air New Zealand experience, and that's what we want to deliver too. But at the moment, we're stretched to capacity and making sure our customers can travel our top priority. The lease of an additional crewed aircraft may help us achieve that."
For the next six months, Air New Zealand's domestic and international schedule will be operating at 90 percent of pre-Covid levels.
