Air New Zealand
 

Any body know about Air New Zealand?

yea there the country's airliner

there not that big,

if your wondering about a job there, they only take people who citizens of New Zealand

and just like in australia, they have an over load of pilots

they operate a fleet or 747-400's and 777 for the longer haul internations, 767s, a320s for the shorter international flights, and 737s, dash8s, saab340s and i think maybe beech 1900's and BAE146's for the regional trips.

They also bought ansett australia a fair few years back, but bad management by that company made it go bust, and greatly reduced employment prospect into the airliners in australia

now all that remains is 3 airliners: qantas, jetstar and virgin
abou 50-60% of qantas pilots now were ex ansett

Air New Zealands main hub is NZAA(Auckland)
They currently operate the B747-400, B777-200ER,B767-300ER(that is going to be replaced by 787s-air nz is the launch customer of the 787-9), A320, B737-300(phasing out), ATR-500, Q300, S340A(phasing out), Beech 1900D.

Air New Zealand operates the 747,777,767, and a320
Air New Zealand National Operates the 737
Mount Cook Airline operates the ATRs from Christchurch
Air Nelson operates the S340A and Q300 from Nelson
Eagles Air operates the B1900D from Hamilton

Air New Zealand operates to 26 Domestic Destinations, 6 Australian Destinations, 9 Pacific Island Destinations, 5 Asian Destinations, 3 USA Destinations and 1 European Destination.

They are the only airline to operate a true around the world service as they serve London via both Hong Kong and Los Angeles therefore making it possible to travel around the world on one carrier

Any more questions I would be happy to answer

Cheers

I have NZ Permanent Residency and NZ CPL, but next trip I will switch my FAA ATP to a NZ as well. I know it has been awhile on any pool activity, but just wondering what generally hiring is like. I know some things are washy, like waiting for more of 777 to come in and Nelson switching to the Qs, and 767 phasing out.... but anything else??

umm... yes...Me
 

Ive been with them for about 2 years...still training...:p

I bet flying around New Zealand's cool. It seems like such a scenic place. What aircraft are you on?

Nia, I love flying on Air New Zealand! I've had nothing but great flights between SFO/LAX and Auckland, as well as flights between Christchurch and Auckland. The crew and ground staff have always been friendly and pleasant. Love those first class beds as well...:)

Funny that this thread should pop up as I just spent the whole weekend sailing on the bay and playing in San Francisco with some of my Kiwi friends, who are here visiting.

I love New Zealand. Maybe I'll see you sometime on an Air New Zealand flight. Best of luck with your training.

B1900D at the moment
 

Will be converting to A320 next May :)

Hey..no problem...KSFO, love the approach on 28L

Sounds great!

A320 in the spring. . .as we say in NZ, "yea right".

Air NZ is a great company to work for. The hiring process is done by the line pilots (three days worth) so we have ended up with a very good grade of driver. I haven't been with the company long but have found it to be very easy to work for/with.

I imagine we'd be seeing redundancies before we hire again, but that would only be for a short period if at all. They have been offering LWOP, but should be back up to hiring in 2008, hopefully sooner but with the age 60 thing, and a bunch of over sixties in the right seat of Daddies Yacht waiting to back to the left it could be a while before there is any movement. That said, my understanding is that we have less than 30 guys and gals waiting on yes letters and they'll be sucked up pretty quick once the hiring does start again. . .I think. Speculation is my thing as you can see.

By the by, permanent residence, not citizenship is the requirment for employment. As an aside, Air Nelson is hiring for the Saab 340, with movement onto the Dash-8 about six months, or so my friends there have been told.

Great job, great bunch of people to work with so well worth the drama and wait. If I can help let me know.

alright thanks
so ANZ is switching to the A320, I know they were back and forth a few times, between that the 737. Capt. Pattie (747 fleet manager) has also said it will be awhile.
thx for the updates

Well if you know Keith then you should have a pretty good in when it comes to hiring; he and the other fleet managers take the advice of the interviewer pilots when crunch time comes on Monday afternoon (I take it you're well aware of the interview process), but they do have final authority. I don't think we are changing to the A320. The company seams pretty happy with the 733 on domestic, and it still does some pacific routes. We have, in fact, sent back a couple A320's. At any rate, the entry level positions are doser on any of the heavies or 737 FO. The A320 is a more senior position in either seat, hence my comment.

Residency wont do it...but if youve been a resident there for three years you can get citizenship. I got mine back in 1994.

An "All Blacks" fan, eh?

I'm afraid spitfire1500 is incorrect, although he does support the correct team. No need to argue as I fly for Air NZ and I am a permanent resident, not a citizen. Icould not get an interview until I received my residency, but the day I did I re-applied; had an interview and job within two months; quite lucky indeed.

Oh yeas, I understand that Zeal320 (exFreedom Air) flight attendants are being trained on the B767. Could just be a rumor but it appears to be correct. We have heard from managment before that 767's with yellow tails could be a reality, so the good old birds could stay around for a while yet.

Just out of curiosity, what is the compensation at AZ?

Just shy of $70NZ per year to start. That is for cruiser on any of the heavies and right seat on the 737, and is based on 60 hours per month. After 60 we get a graduated increase in incentice pay, rising about 1.45 times the base at 90 hours. After one year and holding an ATPL you go to fourth year pay at about $80 per year, going up from there and depending on the aircraft and seat. The base pay for a 12 year skipper on the 744 is just over $240NZ, and the 777 is about $220. There are percentage increases for training, checking and flight instructor, so if you are a top scale 744 skipper, working very hard and doing training and checking, then the pay is pretty good I think. We also get meal and overnight allowances but these depend on where you are (how expensive it is at that station). All in all I think the pay is pretty spot on. The Kiwi dollar is normally pretty low worldwide, so for example my first year will be $49K in US dollars for cruiser on the 767 as there will be pretty much zero incentive pay. We pax around quite a bit so end up with alot of our time pro-rated, but it doesn't normally make incentive. None the less, it's an excellent company and the pilots are are very easy to get along with.

Hope that answers your question somewhat.

Yep, good enough. Thanks for the response. My brother is a mechanic for AZ right now in Aukland and I was just curious.

KoruPilot
Are the 777s going to replace the 767 fleet? So when they are hiring they at least look at with a CPL huh?. Doesn't matter I have both FAA & CAA ATPLs. So Freedom Air is expanding as well then, are they going to keep A320s?

The 777's have replaced the 767 and 747 on some routes, but it's not really supposed to be a 767 replacement across the board. We are, as far as I know, keeping the remaining six 767's for the forseable future to do the pacific routes. The 767 is a great plane for the discount routes, ie: you can fill it full of punters going for some sun and it makes money, hence, I believe, the intention to put it into service with Freedom. As far as the pilots are concerned this would be with mainline drivers. The Freedom/Zeal320 deal with the pilots is set up to protect mainline jobs; they hire one Freedom pilot for five of us, or something like that (can't remember the number). All the A320's are now with Zeal320 (replaceing freedom) and all the flight attendants on those birds are freedom/zeal. So the A320's we have stay in that operation. They sent a couple back, but not sure if they will sell off any more. If this code share with QF across the Tasman goes ahead it will affect pilot numbers. They are also reviewing Tahiti and appear to not like Hawaii at the moment. Not too sure why they cancelled Singapore as the flights have been pretty chokka other then during low season; someone should have explained low season I guess. Likely they don't want to compete against themselves with the new London run through Hong Kong. They have the crystal ball so know better then me. But if Tahiti goes, and with the age sixty rule coming in, plus the Tasman, my best guess would be a couple of years before they do any real hiring again so at least the guys on yes letters are picked up. Now that I said that I'll probably be in the left seat of a 737 next year.

The extra Freedom flying, if it happens, will likely be because they replave the Koru with yellow tails on existing leisure routes, and possibly more so across the Tasman.

No, you don't require an ATPL. They have hired recently with commercials, but as far as I know those were ex military guys.

koru thanks for the info. Yeah it did seem like Singapore was doing well. It seems that they have always had the 2 light season HNL, and then the 3 flights during the heavy. Is the 737 doing Tahiti from Tonga and Fiji or is that 767 route?

Tahiti is only done with the 767. We do a through flight that stops in Rarotonga on the way, then Tahiti and on to LAX. There are double bangers from Auckland with the 767 as well but I try to avoit them as they are all nighters. On the 737 the crew pax to Rarotonga, layover, then do Raro-Tonga-Auckland(or is it Fiji, can;t remember and don't fly it). The 767 does either Apia, Fiji or Raoro-Tahiti, then on to LAX and back through one of those stops on the way back. We can layover in the islands for up to three days so the trip is 6 to 9 days depending. The HNL layover is my favorite if it's the four dayer. Outstanding for the surfing (not good enough for Tahiti break I'm afraid). Good lifestyle but all the paxing means no insentive pay. Hopefully we're all on the 777 (that's what we've heard is happening) by early next year as I much prefer the Orient runs.

Like I said, all in all great company to work for, and from what I've seen in my past flying pretty flash training. I

Help please...
 

Hey guys, Im only 14yrs old but I already know that I wanna become an airline pilot. Ive been dreaming about becoming one since I was six. Theres a problem though; I live in New Zealand and they arent many choices as to how to become pilots. There are plenty of flying schools here but only one university offering a degree in aviation. I dont know if flying schools are the way to go because Ive read somewhere that you have to have a degree to have an airline pilot job. Theres another problem, there is only one airline in New Zealand.. I think. My parents say that it will be a waste of time but I dont want to give up on my dreams. Is there anybody out there that can offer me with some help??? cheers.

You ca't pm me yet so drop me an email at [email protected] and I'll try my best to answer your questions. I was in the same boat growing up, with parents who didn't know or want to know anything about me going flying. They came round though and ended up my biggest supporeters. You require some post secondary for Air NZ, but not a degree; that said there are a couple pilots who have been hired recently with no post secondary. I had two years and lots of big turbine command, and they hired me. It's an excellent company to work for and a great lifestyle, but it is alot of work getting there. Too much to explain here so send me an email and I'll fill you in better. My wife went to Massey and now flies the 744 for Air NZ by the way, so that program does help you along.

Ciao

Good morning! Very interesting thread. I am an american who visited the south island of New Zealand a month ago and immediately fell in love with your country. Eventually I would like to live there. How difficult would it be for an american to fly for your airline? I have an ATP, and about 4000 of military time.

Thanks...

It's difficult enough for a Kiwi to fly for Air NZ as there is very little movement. That has been the case for half a decade now and only people on YES letters, and they have been on them for years now, are getting in; even then it is a trickle. Once they figure out how to make the 65 to 70 year olds retire, then perhaps there will be some real movement.

I'm no longer with Air NZ by the way. I went contracting for a couple of years on a commute and have been with Virgin Australia (New Zeland) for just over a year; and have made captain. To me, by far the better choice at the moment in Australasia is the Virgin Group. But just my two cents.

With a work permit you could come here by the way. Air NZ you'll need permanent resdicence.

Yes, it is a very nice area of the world.

Korupilot is there a way I could email you? tried the above email you posted, but it didn't work.
I'm a Canadian too on a 744 contract... but looking for the next move...
(I'll leave the rest for a PM or email).

Thanks for all the info that you've provided !

regards!

Yea, I don't use that one anymore, sorry. Best just to make a few more posts and send me a PM. Sounds like you're in an interesting position and I'd love to chat. Drop a PM when you are able.

65 to 70 ? You guys are kidding right...:)

OVER 70 mate, I kid you not.

Now they want to use the SO's licence to keep their cush jobs. They need an under 60 on the flight deck (properly in a window seat but they think they can get around that) and they think they can get away with using the younger pilots licence. Talk about exploiting pilots, and they want to do it to their own. There is a whole lot more to it and it's all pretty ugly.

You can just imagine the sentiment on the flight deck.

Interesting .I dont understand that using the younger guys lic thing. In the US the normal retirement is 65 for everybody else so Ill most likely be doing the same .The FAA is doing away with the extra checks for over 60 and you only need an under 60 pilot at international destinations. Sounds like somebody is stretching the rules a bit with the over 65 thing unless the NZ government has changed the domestic rules.