Air New Zealand loyalty head Mark Street leaving airline after 15 years

Air New Zealand's loyalty scheme now has more than 3 million members. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Air New Zealand loyalty head Mark Street is on the move after 15 years at the airline, during which time he oversaw the near trebling of the Airpoints programme to more than three million members.

The scheme has grown rapidly since the airline split with Fly Buys in 2016.

Street joined the airline in 2003 in the public affairs department at a time when it was rebuilding its reputation following the Ansett collapse and fallout from that in 2001.

He moved to Australia to run the marketing team then returned to New Zealand and the airline said that he played a role in the rollout of new services for domestic customers.

He then moved back to the public affairs area, where he came to lead the team.

During that time Street led the media response for a number of significant events, including the loss of an A320 aircraft in Perpignan, France, 10 years ago.

''For the past six years Mark has driven the loyalty agenda, enabling the programme to grow to three million members and more than 60 retail and service partners,'' Air New Zealand chief revenue officer Cam Wallace said in a senior leadership team update.

When Street joined the loyalty programme it had 1.1 million members.

''Today our Airpoints programme is one of Air New Zealand's key competitive advantages, creating customer preference for the airline but also generating significant revenue in its own right,'' Wallace said.

The airline has more than 60 partners including bank, retail and travel firms covering a wide range of household and business spend categories including New World, Harvey Norman, Mercury, Mitre 10 and Z Energy.

''Throughout his career with us Mark has built strong, highly engaged teams who will no doubt be as sad as I am to see him go,'' said Wallace.

It is understood he will be leaving soon and a transition is underway.