Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week.
The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week.
While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to be canceled due to reduced capacity and a shortage of cabin crew members.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
The announcement came as people are about to celebrate the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Saturday next week.
Passengers whose travel plans were disrupted by the strike could rebook alternative flights within seven days before or after their original departure dates without paying processing fees or fare differences, the airline said.
Data from the Travel Quality Assurance Association and the Tourism Administration showed that 600 air travelers in Taiwan are expected to be affected by the strike, 230 of whom are part of tour groups.
Phoenix Tours deputy general manager Rex Huang (黃賢在), who also serves as a consultant for tours in Australia and New Zealand, told a news conference in Taipei that travel agencies are trying their best to find alternative flights so their customers can continue their tours as planned.
“As hotel accommodations have already been fully paid, travel agencies would sustain more than NT$1 million [US$31,669] in financial losses if the tours were canceled. We will try to figure out ways to resolve this problem,” he said.
However, Huang said that securing alternative flights at a time so close to the Lunar New Year holiday is challenging, and the task is made even more difficult when other Air New Zealand flights to Taipei transiting through Hong Kong and other nearby airports would also be canceled.
Whether the strike would cause further disruptions to air travel to New Zealand remains to be seen, he said.
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