By Rebecca Wright
A 3 News investigation has uncovered what police documents say "appears to be a drink drive problem within Air New Zealand".
It involves the pilots, cabin staff, mechanics and engineers, and covers a period from 2007 to as recently as December last year.
It details a secret meeting with Air NZ in which police told the airline it seemed to have "a culture which accepts drinking before work".
At least seven Air NZ staff have been convicted of drink driving in the past three years.
The problem first surfaced when four staff were picked up and convicted of drink driving within a couple months of each other in 2008. Two were on their way to work.
Official documents obtained by 3 News show the first was a pilot, who it turned out had been charged for excess breath alcohol on three previous occasions. Then a mechanic was pulled over two-and-a-half times the legal limit while on the way to work. Next was a flight attendant, again on the way to work, and dressed in full Air NZ uniform.
Air NZ refused to be interviewed for this story. The flight attendant was fired, but 3 News wanted to ask whether the pilot and mechanic still work for the airline.
The official documents also show there are others who have been caught. Air NZ bosses don't know who they are, because they weren't caught on the way to work or in uniform and identifiable.
They're a mechanic with three breath alcohol convictions in four years, and another pilot and an aircraft engineer.
An internal memo from Auckland road policing manager John Kelly to his boss Paula Rose says; "As an aside, this may be the tip of the iceberg... There may be many others who have not been identified as Air New Zealand staff or who have been apprehended elsewhere and so have not come to my attention.
"We agreed it was a serious reputational and safety issue for Air New Zealand."
Police in Auckland were so concerned that a secret meeting took place with Air NZ's senior legal counsel Graeme Norton in May 2008 to discuss the issue, saying: "I think from our phone conversations, Air NZ is very receptive. They are very scared of this sort of thing going public, I suspect."
Air New Zealand has a 200-page alcohol and drug policy for all staff.
But as late as December last year, Mr Kelly refers to a promise Air NZ made to take the alcohol matter up with its mechanics, but which in his words, was never done.
3 News