Air New Zealand is expected to land a big contract to maintain Hawaiian Airlines' fleet of Boeing 767-300 aircraft in Auckland.

The airline would not comment on the deal, but an announcement was expected about the end of next month.

It is understood that Air New Zealand has entered into final negotiations with the Honolulu-based carrier after beating other providers to be named preferred tenderer....

Nelson's Ngati Koata Trust has confirmed it will start a new airline using two aircraft previously flown by Origin Pacific.

Trust chief executive Caron Paul said yesterday the as-yet unnamed airline would lease the 18-seat Jetstream 31 aircraft from Origin's founder, Robert Inglis, to fly charter and freight services from Nelson.

"It is a very modest charter and freight service. We are definitely not going into scheduled passenger services," Paul said....

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union and Aviation and Marine Engineers Association members will be the first aviation workers in the world to take part in today�s aviation industry international day of protest.

The Auckland and Christchurch-based aircraft engineers will be leaving their work for two hours to rally outside their airports in protest against the international trend of cutting pay and conditions for aviation workers.

EPMU National Secretary Andrew Little says Kiwi aviation workers experienced that trend first hand last year when Air New Zealand threatened them with outsourcing.

�Air New Zealand has used the threat of outsourcing to cut its workers� pay and conditions three times in the last year and a half. We�ll be using this day of action to draw attention to the airline�s shoddy behaviour and to back our calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the airline�s industrial relations practices.

�We�re also warning Air New Zealand that our members are demanding a fair share at upcoming pay negotiations. Now is a good time for a decent wage increase and our members are serious about it.

�Our members at Air Nelson are already pushing for a fair increase this year.�

AMEA National Secretary, George Ryde, said high skilled aviation workers are in hot demand around the world and airlines, including Air New Zealand, had to work with unions to make sure employment conditions remained competitive.

�If we don�t look after our people here they�ll go overseas and we�ll never get them back,� Mr Ryde said.

The actions will take place at Auckland airport at 9.30am and Christchurch airport at 1:30pm today.

New Zealand Sikhs say being asked to remove their turbans as part of airport security checks is the same as exposing any other intimate part of the body and should be done in private.

Auckland's Sikh Centre today told a parliamentary committee considering the Aviation Security Legislation Bill it was concerned Sikhs could be unfairly targeted by security "profiling" as a result of the legislation....

...Air New Zealand today supported the bill. However, it said it would rather ground a flight than allow it to take off despite a security threat but carrying a security officer.

The airline was concerned about the implications of the bill requiring it to store seized items for 30 days until they were claimed or destroyed....

Air New Zealand will squeeze another row of seats into its domestic Boeing 737s, reducing leg room by two centimetres.

The six extra seats will take the number on each plane to 142, increasing capacity on the fleet by 4.5 per cent.

Air New Zealand spokeswoman Tracey Palmer said leg room would be tightened particularly near the rear of the aircraft....

An Air New Zealand plane with 78 passengers on board was forced to divert to Tonga and return to Auckland yesterday after having to abort its landing in Niue.

The flight that normally takes three-and-a-half hours turned into an ordeal lasting almost 10 for passengers, who last night faced a wait of two days for the next flight to Niue.

A technical malfunction with the approach lights at Niue's Hanan Airport forced the 737 plane to abandon its landing and then go into an hour-long holding pattern while engineers unsuccessfully tried to fix the problem....

Auckland International Airport is calling for tenders for a single on-air duty free business to operate until June 2015. The current licence for competitors Regency Duty Free and DFS Group expires in August 2009.

Niue's finance minister is this morning poring through the books to see where they can find the thousands they need to repair the lights at Hanan Airport.

An Air New Zealand flight was forced to head to Tonga and then back home because the approach lights at the aiport failed to work on Friday night.

Fisa Pihigia, the Finance and Immigration Minister, whose been here for budget talks with New Zealand officials, was one of the 78 passengers forced to cool his heels over the weekend....

Threats of strike action at Air Nelson have re-emerged following a breakdown in pay talks between the airline and a union.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) said the mediation process over a pay dispute broke down on Friday.

The collapse in talks came after the airline refused a decent pay rise, the EPMU said.

It is understood the EPMU has already issued a 14 day notice of potential strike action, meaning that action could take place from late next week....

Cutting back trans-Tasman services and opening new international routes helped Air New Zealand to fill its planes to more than 80 per cent in April and increase profits.

Across the network the passenger loads were up 5.9 percentage points on those a year ago, taking them to 80.2 per cent full....

Seventy-eight passengers who had to be flown back to Auckland after their Air New Zealand flight to Niue was aborted will fly out again on Monday evening, after having their travel plans delayed by three days.

A technical malfunction with the approach lights at Niue's airport forced the plane into an hour-long holding pattern on Friday while engineers tried to fix the problem.

They were unsuccessful and the plane flew to Tonga to refuel before returning to Auckland....

Air New Zealand is increasing the number of pacific premium economy seats on its B747 fleet a second time, following what it says is strong customer demand.
The seats offer passengers more leg and arm room.
The airline's fleet of eight B747 aircraft will be reconfigured to replace 15 standard economy seats on the lower deck with eight premium economy seats. The work is scheduled to be completed by end of October.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union members at Air New Zealand Link company Air Nelson will be taking strike action from one minute past midnight on Thursday after rejecting the company�s latest pay offer.

Members voted overwhelming against the offer, which was provided to them in writing by Air New Zealand.

Most of the airline�s permanent staff will take part in the action, which will target food freight and engineering and will include an overtime ban as well as a series of four day-long rolling stoppages.

EPMU National Aviation Organiser Strachan Crang says the strike action comes after eleven days of negotiations, including five days with a mediator.

�The company�s offer amounted to an average of 3.6% a year for 30 months, when the going rate in the current environment is around 5%

�The airline � whether you look at just the subsidiary or you look at the parent company � has been doing well financially and our members want a pay settlement that reflects this.

�These workers are highly skilled and have been loyal to the company when it needed them to help grow its market share, right down to taking a below average pay deal last negotiations so the company could expand its fleet. Now they just want to see some loyalty in return.�

The union is seeking a two year deal of 5.4% and 4.8%, which includes catch up payments from previously low settlements.

The EPMU represents around 5000 aviation workers. More than 3000 are employed by Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand today announced that it will more than double capacity between Auckland and Adelaide in the peak summer months and will also introduce a direct summer flight between Queenstown and Melbourne.

Group General Manager Short Haul Airlines Norm Thompson said today the airline had enjoyed very strong demand for the Adelaide-Auckland service launched in March last year.

"We'd previously announced an increase from three to five flights a week from the beginning of November, but will instead double services to six a week. From February 2008 we'll be offering daily flights," he said.

"In the interim period, from 23 July to end of October, we'll be increasing our seat capacity to Adelaide by 38% through adding a fourth A320 trip per week and upgauging several selected flights to larger, B763 aircraft."

Mr Thompson said the new services over the summer months would more than replace the capacity removed by Qantas pulling off the route from late July.

The move is expected to see Air New Zealand gain a larger share of the long-haul market to/from South Australia, as travellers choose to connect to North American flights through Auckland rather than Sydney or Melbourne.

Mr Thompson also confirmed today that the airline would launch a new summer service between Queenstown and Melbourne.

The service will run each Saturday from 22 December to 29 March, using an Airbus A320 aircraft. Currently customers wanting to travel to Queenstown in the summer months have to fly via either Auckland or Christchurch.

While Air New Zealand has historically operated a Queenstown-Melbourne flight during the July-September ski season, Mr Thompson said it was keen to encourage tourists to spend time in Queenstown in the summer months.

"Queenstown offers an enormous range of outdoor adventure activities that make it a compelling destination throughout the year - there's everything on offer from tramping and trekking to white-water rafting and bungy jumping. There is significant new investment going into quality hotels and golf courses in the Queenstown region, catering for the high end luxury market."

Mr Thompson said the airline had great confidence in the new route given the popularity of direct flights between Queenstown and Sydney twice a week during the summer months.

Fares for the new services are available now. One-way lead-in fares, available online at airnewzealand.co.nz, start from NZD$430 inclusive for Auckland/Wellington/Christchurch-Adelaide and NZD$389 inclusive for Queenstown-Melbourne

Prices ex-Australia are AU$427 one-way Adelaide-Auckland and AU$387 one-way Melbourne-Queenstown inclusive via www.airnewzealand.com.au