Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer resigns - message to Air New Zealand staff

As Chairman Tony Carter has just announced, I will be stepping down from day to day leadership of the business on September 25 after eight years with the airline and seven years as Chief Executive Officer. It has been an amazing journey at the helm of this iconic company and a great privilege to work alongside you all as we have together achieved incredible things for our airline and nation.

I know I will leave Air New Zealand in three months with it in a much stronger position.

We've grown our customer base and network, grown the value of the airline and generated strong returns for our investors, and we have strengthened our balance sheet so we can compete and invest confidently as demonstrated by our recent $2 billion purchase of new Boeing 787-10 aircraft.

And the Air New Zealand we enjoy today is more customer centric than it has ever been. Customer satisfaction is at all-time highs as well as being seven times the global industry average and three times the Star Alliance average.

Our customer centricity, commercial focus, operational integrity and social ethos have elevated Air New Zealand to the most revered company in our part of the world. We have held the number one corporate reputation in New Zealand for five years and in Australia for three years. This means the public trust us and our values to ultimately do the right thing.

Underpinning all our success is you - the 12,500 people whom I often like to refer to as the aviation industry's equivalent of the world-beating All Blacks. Thank you for all your support, faith and encouragement of me. It has been my absolute privilege to serve and lead you.

The culture at our airline is unlike any other and it has only strengthened as we have introduced performance management and leadership development programmes, pioneered High Performance Engagement (HPE) with our union partners, chose to pay a Company Performance Bonus, improved our safety record and lifted our commitment to diversity and inclusion. All of this has seen Air New Zealand regularly voted as the best place to work in the country.

I have been thrilled to see all Air New Zealanders get behind our higher purpose these past seven years - to supercharge our nation's success economically, socially and environmentally. This has put sustainable development at the heart of the airline, and it has been terrific to work alongside central and local Government, iwi and community groups.

I know I will have plenty of time for farewells over the coming months, but I would like to take a minute to acknowledge the support of the Air New Zealand Board of Directors, who have been behind me and the Executive team as we have taken the airline to the next level.

I know I am going to get a lot of questions about where to next for me, so I am keen to be quite upfront about that.

Obviously, job number one is to stay focused and finish strongly at Air New Zealand so we are set up for more success going forward. Then I'm going to take the summertime to refresh and recharge, and then reflect on what I will do next. I am now 48 years old and Amanda and I are at an interesting time in life. Our children will both have finished high school and so we will have a new degree of freedom, including career choices. Thus, I would like to think more about how I can best use my skills, abilities and experience to make a further contribution to the success of New Zealand whether that be through corporate life, politics or a non-profit.

I will be out in the business globally over the next three months and I look forward to saying farewell to many of you in person. And rest assured that I remain as deeply focused as ever on the performance of Air New Zealand until September 25!

Ngā mihi
Christopher