According to the International Aviation Trade Association, nearly 130,000 Kiwis could lose their aviation jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
IATA released a statement on April 3 urging Asia-Pacific states to take urgent action to provide financial support to the airline industry impacted by Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The trade association claims that New Zealand's airline industry could lose 128,300 jobs if the travel restrictions remain in place for three months.
This is based on passenger demand also dropping by 38 per cent compared to the same quarter in the previous year.
Air New Zealand has already been hit hard by the pandemic restrictions, cutting 1460 cabin crew staff.
The airline will be extending its significantly-reduced international services by a month, meaning the reduced schedule will now continue until the end of June.
It will fly the following services on a per week basis:
Tasman services:
Three return services Auckland-Sydney
Two return services Auckland-Brisbane and Auckland-Melbourne
Pacific services:
One return service for Auckland-Rarotonga, Auckland-Niue, Sydney-Norfolk, Brisbane-Norfolk
If international flight restrictions are lifted in Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, the company said it “is likely to operate one return service per week from Auckland” to each destination.
Long-haul services:
Three return services Auckland-Los Angeles
Two return services Auckland-Hong Kong
Three return services from May 31 Auckland-Shanghai
For domestic services, only a handful of return services a day will run from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson and Dunedin.
Overall international capacity has been reduced by 95 per cent from pre-Covid-19 levels.
Last week Air NZ said Covid-19 had slashed its revenue by more than $5 billion.
The airline is now expecting to earn less than $500 million this year. Before Covid-19, Air New Zealand had annual revenue of around $5.8 billion and a profit of $374 million.
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