800 staff return to Air NZ as travel takes off again

Air New Zealand has brought back 800 furloughed or former staff before the border reopens to tourists. Air NZ CEe Greg Foran said it was a combination of pilots and flight attendants. "They're really thrilled to be back." However, he said unvaccinated pilots would not return just yet. "Not at this point, until we change our policies on that and that's something that we're considering." He said the airline would look to bring back all the staff it had let go. "We ended up letting 4500 Air New Zealanders go... that's reflective of what happens when a business loses 95 percent of its revenue. The great thing about it is we're now seeing a recovery. It's been almost 800 days since this began and we're excited about being able to get up and running." The airline also revealed it would be flying to New York City from September. The trip is at least 17 hours long. Air NZ estimates the three-flight per week service could pump $65m a year into Aotearoa. The news comes on the same day the government announced significant loosening of Covid-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.<br/>