Air NZ is freezing executives' salaries and looking for ways to reduce staff numbers as the aviation climate gets tougher.

In a letter to staff, chief executive Rob Fyfe said he was freezing his salary and those who directly reported to him which would be reviewed when business conditions improved, ``hopefully sometime in 2009''.

Pay increases for other managers on individual contracts would have to come through either staff cuts or increased productivity, he said.

Mr Fyfe said he had challenged each division to identify ways of cutting ``non-essential activity'' and staff through attrition and non-replacement of non-critical roles.

For staff under collective contracts, he said it would be ``increasingly difficult'' to keep in line with price inflation if conditions continued to deteriorate.

Like all airlines, Air NZ is struggling with the rising cost of jet fuel, increasing its airfares on many routes this month.