Air NZ drops Qantas maintenance in SYD & MEL

Air New Zealand will replace Qantas for engineering work in Sydney and Melbourne following disruptive wildcat strikes last year.

Air New Zealand general manager for Australia John Harrison told Dow Jones Newswires the New Zealand carrier was “transitioning” its line maintenance contract in Sydney from Qantas to Cathay Pacific.

In Melbourne, Air NZ will contract John Holland Group, a unit of Leighton Holdings.

Mr Harrison said the Kiwi carrier was also seeking to recover costs incurred when the Australian airline’s engineers held strikes last year, but he downplayed an earlier media report that it was threatening to sue Qantas.

“This week, we will decide whether we will pursue costs,” Mr Harrison said. “Initially it would be working something out with Qantas, without any legal action. It’s all be very amicable with Qantas; we actually have a very good relationship with them.”

A Qantas spokesman said the company had had no discussions with Air New Zealand on cost recovery, but confirmed it had lost the contract with Air NZ for Sydney maintenance.

A 10-week standoff between Qantas and its licensed aircraft engineers ended last July but its impact was felt for months afterward because of the work backlog created.

Air New Zealand, one of Qantas’s biggest engineering customers, had to relocate some of its engineers to Australia for more than eight months to work on aircraft, and the last of these engineers only returned home two months ago.

Mr Harrison said that by spreading maintenance contracts around, Air New Zealand would be less vulnerable to strikes and similar events. It would continue to use Qantas in Adelaide and Perth and would use its own services in Brisbane.

Source: The Australian
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