Ninety-two jobs are confirmed for the axe at Blenheim-based Air New Zealand engineering subsidiary Safe Air, staff were told at a meeting yesterday.
Seventeen jobs had been saved from the original 109 planned redundancies as a result of extra work with the Royal New Zealand Air Force and other Air NZ subsidiaries, Air NZ technical operations manager Trevor Hughes said.
Staff would have to wait another month to find out who will lose their jobs, the Marlborough Express reported.
The cuts were the result of over 18 months of delays in the delivery of RNZAF C130 aircraft for major upgrade work under a contract with Texas-based L-3 Communications Spar Aerospace which has been cancelled.
Safe Air had lost $6 million since August 2008, Mr Hughes said.
Safe Air general manager Heather Deacon told staff that the C130 project was terminated following delays and the failure of the American company to set a definite date for the arrival of the aircraft needing work.
L-3 Communications, which in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence awarded Safe Air the contract in 2005, notified Safe Air of an indefinite postponement to the programme on December 21.
Work to be carried out by Safe Air included major structural refurbishments, such as the replacement of the centre wing, as well as modifications to major avionics systems, including installation of a new "glass" flight deck, navigation and communication suites and night vision.
