18 Jul 2005

Air New Zealand describing Pacific Island strike action as having minimal effect

3:50 pm on 18 July 2005

Air New Zealand says 3-hundred and 60 passengers have been affected by today's cancelled flights to Fiji and Hawaii, but it describes disruption because of strike action as minimal.

A hundred and 30 people were due to fly from Auckland to Honolulu today, and 2-hundred and 30 from Auckland to Nadi.

An Air New Zealand spokesperson, Mark Street, says the cabin crew who're taking industrial action this week, don't work on the majority of the company's Pacific Island routes.

"Our Pacific Island flying is a mix of both [Airbus] A320 aircraft and [Boeing] 767 and 747 aircraft. The majority of our services are operated by our narrow-bodied A320 fleet which is serviced by a different group of flight attendants, and so those services are unaffected."

Mr Street says the proportion of cancelled flights is minimal, and he says they've been able to rebook passengers onto other services operating today.