About $641 million has been paid out to the top 20 claimants of New Zealand's Covid-19 wage subsidy and subsidy extension schemes, with Air New Zealand topping the list.
The Government has now paid out more than $11 billion in subsidies to New Zealand businesses who said their revenue would suffer as a result of Covid-19.
The initial 12-week wage subsidy scheme has now finished, with an eight-week wage subsidy extension scheme currently in place - applications are open until September 1.
Figures obtained under the Official Information Act from the Ministry of Social Development show that Air New Zealand has claimed the most of any company in New Zealand, with almost $107 million going towards 10,292 of its employees.
Second on the list is Fletcher Building, which has claimed just under $68 million for 9694 staff, and third is The Warehouse Group with a total claim of about $52 million for 8596 employees.
The Ministry provides a searchable database of how much any company has claimed, but until now had not released a list of which companies had claimed the most.
The MSD said the figures incorporate both the initial subsidy scheme and the extension scheme, minus any amount which has been paid back by the companies.
Collectively, the top 20 claimants employ about 90,000 people and make up just under six per cent of all wage subsidies paid out to New Zealand companies.
A spokesperson for the MSD said: "The Wage Subsidy scheme has enabled rapid support for thousands of New Zealand businesses during this time of uncertainty and has ensured that employees were able to remain connected with their employers during the Covid-19 lockdown.
"The scheme was set up on a high-trust model, in order to quickly deliver funds to support workers, families and businesses."
Television New Zealand, which produces 1 News, claimed about $4.9 million under the scheme.
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