Air NZ to begin search for successor

The "search and evaluation process" for Ralph Norris' successor will begin "almost immediately", Air NZ chairman John Palmer says.

Norris has given six months' notice although the exact departure date has yet to be decided. While the airline is certain to look internally and externally, two obvious candidates are Rob Fyfe and Craig Sinclair.

After a management shake-up in October 2003, Fyfe, the airline's former chief information officer, was given the title of "group general manager - airlines". His role is seen as a clear second-in-command.

Sinclair, a former chief executive of the SOE Airways, is "group general manager - ventures" and is in charge of engineering services, Freedom Air and its airport services.