Air NZ faces tougher cabin crew rules in wake of flight attendant raising concerns

Air NZ may no longer be allowed to use cabin crew who have crewed flights to Australia to also crew domestic flights within New Zealand, director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield says. The possible policy change was signalled after a flight attendant approached Stuff to raise concerns about the practice. An Air NZ spokeswoman confirmed on Friday that there would be "an incredibly limited number of A320 and 787 crew who may have been rostered on to fly both domestic and international routes throughout the alert levels". A Health Ministry spokesman initially defended the practice, describing Australia as a "low risk" country. But Bloomfield said the ministry had been talking to the airline over the past 48 hours "around Australia, because what is clear is people are coming from high risk areas, converging in Australia and then coming across [to New Zealand]." "We have had several cases now on those flights. One of the measures could be to make sure those crew are solely on international routes, not also flying domestic routes," he said. Another option was for trans-Tasman cabin crew to be required to follow the same protocols as crew flying to and from Los Angeles, which would mean they would need to self-isolate for 48 hours and take a Covid test on their return. Bloomfield said the ministry was expecting to "confirm some further arrangements" with the airline. PM Jacinda Ardern said Monday that Health Minister David Clark would meet with Air NZ Monday evening "to reinforce just how important it is that airline crew uphold ... expectations". However, it was not clear whether or not that meeting was related.<br/>