Scramble for call staff at Air NZ

Air New Zealand is on the hunt for 200 contact centre workers after some customers have been left waiting for two hours to talk to staff.

The airline says unacceptably long wait times are the result of a surge in contact centre calls as Kiwis start to book flights and have more complex inquiries than before the pandemic.

“We are working really hard to get the resource ramped up, we acknowledge that we’re not providing the customer service level that we would like to,” said Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty.

The airline is now trying to recruit 200 contact centre staff but the tight job market means it may have to redeploy some staff from other parts of the business in the meantime.

She said the roles are full-time permanent positions that start with annual salaries of around $55,000. They are based at the airline’s headquarters in downtown Auckland or at Concentrix in Mt Albert.

There are now 250 contact centre staff who are dealing with up to 10,000 calls a day, a volume that is far greater than before the pandemic.

Geraghty said a small number of callers were waiting two hours or more.