NZALPA Vice President, Mike Maguire.

2022, what a year for the return of aviation.

This year finally saw the majority of COVID-imposed restrictions removed from all but a few countries and aviation starting its overdue return to normality.

Air New Zealand has all but returned all its redundant and furloughed pilots and is seeing a return to pre-COVID travel demand. The regional fleet has now started employing from general aviation and pilot movement is gaining some momentum.

Both Jetstar and Jetconnect are also returning to better times and, although we lost a number of operators from our skies in the last two years, the pilots affected by this, generally, have gone on to find other opportunities in aviation.

The general aviation sector is looking up, with third-tier operators and flight schools employing and new students enrolling in training.

Demand for pilots internationally, especially in the United States, is once again high. All this is encouraging for pilot careers, as well as the terms and conditions being negotiated by unions at the legacy airlines worldwide.

2022 has also been a year of change and challenges at NZALPA. This year saw us move into a new ALPA House at 14 Amelia Earhart Avenue, Mangere. While still a work in progress, a number of changes have been made to the internal layout of the building and we are very close to having a fit for purpose building that will see NZALPA with an excellent facility for both its staff and you, the members, for the foreseeable future.

As you already know, early into the pandemic it was recognised that the impact to aviation was going to have flow-on effects for staffing levels at NZALPA with the difficult decision made to offer redundancy in order to help balance our expenditure with our adjusted COVID income. This saw a number of changes across staff portfolios and new ways of working when government-imposed lockdowns were in place. While the  majority of the remaining NZALPA staff have been with us for several years, we recently welcomed Michelle Forte into the administration role.

NZALPA’s General Manager, Dawn Handforth, advised the President and Board of her desire to pursue other aspirations and tended her resignation earlier this year, after helping guide NZALPA through the largest upheaval in our 77 year history.

Dawn started with NZALPA in 2000 as a Legal Officer with employment law being her passion for many years and recognised early on the value of interest-based engagement and bargaining with employers and other parties.

During her time at NZALPA she became interested in corporate governance and undertook further post graduate study, completing the Governance New Zealand’s Professional Education Programme. As a qualified Chartered (Board) Secretary, an Associate of the Chartered Governance Institute as well as an Associate of Governance New Zealand she put her governance, compliance and risk management skills to good use in her new role of General Manager, which she had been in since October 2015.

I would like to thank Dawn for her service to NZALPA members over the past 22 years and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

So while aviation and, therefore, NZALPA regain traction after COVID, the return to business as usual is going to look different moving forward. NZALPA is – and should always be – a member-driven and owned organisation. The past two years have reinforced that members representing members, with SME advice and support, is the best way to advocate for our mutual interests and look after each other. While we witnessed the unfortunate loss of employment for many pilots due to the pandemic, we also witnessed how untidy things can become when a group with two factions are pitted against one another and the impact it can have on employment relationships.

It is vital that NZALPA and your councils are well resourced and represented. It is themselves and you, alike, that these representatives are working for and they deserve the recognition and support of the membership. It is also vital that the work continues and members who are currently not involved, put their hand up to get involved and do their part in whatever capacity they can.

NZALPA has many facets to the organisation from the Board of Management and its governance roles to representative Councils, core member benefits such as the Peer Assistance Network (PAN), Professional Standards (PROSTAN), insurances, Critical Incident Response Program (CIRP), as well as our industrial and legal strength. Remember we are only as strong as the combined collective.

As we rapidly move towards the festive season, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all NZALPA staff and our 2500+ members a very safe and merry festive season. Enjoy the long-anticipated summer of zero COVID restrictions and make the most of spending time with loved ones.