“Alex has brought calm, clarity and deep operational expertise to our leadership team,” the airline’s chief executive Greg Foran said.
“Her focus on safety, care for her team and commitment to improving reliability has driven meaningful progress across our operation and led to better customer outcomes.“
He said Marren was going to transition “into governance roles”.
Marren in 2022 told the Herald the Covid pandemic was akin to “guerilla warfare” where problems kept popping up.
Meanwhile, the current chief commercial officer Jeremy O’Brien has been appointed chief customer and digital officer.
That was a newly-created role, although the next chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar is currently chief digital officer.
O’Brien will take up the new role on October 20, the same day Ravishankar takes over from Foran as chief executive.
“He was previously commercial director at TVNZ, where he led key aspects of the broadcaster’s content streaming and digital transformation,” Air NZ said.
Scott Wilkinson will start as new chief commercial officer on October 7.
The loyalty business will be added to his portfolio.
Wilkinson has spent a decade at Qantas, where he had leadership roles across digital, customer experience, and commercial strategy.
The airline said O’Brien’s permanent appointment to the leadership team, and Wilkinson’s new responsibilities, should strengthen alignment across the company’s commercial, customer, loyalty, marketing and digital functions.
The personnel changes were also designed to support the broader leadership shift before Ravishankar’s transition to chief executive.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, a former Air New Zealand chief executive, met Ravishankar at the airline’s Hangar 4 unveiling last week.
Luxon said running a relatively small airline was alwyas challenging but Air New Zealand would continue to grow.
In the latest financial year, Air New Zealand made a $126 million net profit after tax, down from $146m the year before.
