Wellington  - The state-owned Air New Zealand announced Wednesday that it was cutting 200 jobs in a new cost-saving drive as passenger numbers fall in the current international financial crisis.

Chief executive Rob Fyfe said that 100 long-haul cabin crew staff would be made redundant and up to 68 in technical, planning and management with smaller cuts in other areas.

Fyfe said the airline had reduced capacity to match customer demand over the past few months and had worked hard on initiatives to minimise redundancies.

"These include pilots taking leave without pay, giving staff on individual contracts the opportunity to work fewer hours, introducing part-time hours for cabin crew, not replacing non-safety sensitive roles, not renewing temporary contracts and a freeze on executive salaries," he said.

"However, it has become clear that these measures will not fully address the excess staff levels we now have as a result of these capacity reductions, especially in the long haul business where capacity is being reduced by eight per cent when compared with the last financial year."

The New Zealand government owns 76 per cent of Air New Zealand, which employs about 11,000 staff. (dpa)