Air NZ's revenue boss Cam Wallace has made sweeping changes within his division. Photo / Jason Oxenham.
Air NZ's revenue boss Cam Wallace has made sweeping changes within his division. Photo / Jason Oxenham.
Changes at the top of Air New Zealand's revenue team are coming into place following a major shakeup over the past month.
Following the move of Leanne Geraghty, former regional manager of NZ and Pacific, to group general manager of airports, the revenue division which last year earned $5.8 billionhas been restructured.
Today chief revenue officer Cam Wallace announced Jo Copestake has been appointed to the role of regional general manager NZ distribution and corporate.
This role has responsibility for leading the airline's government, corporate and distribution functions within New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, including product, pricing, agency support and global sales operations.
Copestake has worked for Air New Zealand since 2010. For the past three years she has been in the role of head of UK/Europe and her appointment is seen as a big promotion.
Jo Copestake has been head of Air NZ in the UK and Europe. Photo / Supplied.
Most recently, in Britain she led an airline team that worked with trade partners and other stakeholders through the transition to end the Los Angeles to London Heathrow operation in October this year.
Wallace earlier said that with Geraghty's shift to airports, the revenue leadership structure was reassessed to ensure it was best placed to focus on strategic priorities for 2020. The changes were underway before new chief executive Greg Foran moved into the top floor of the airline's Fanshawe St hub at the beginning of the year.
• Maintaining the airline's competitive position within New Zealand by continuing to strengthen relationships with government and corporate customers.
• Continuing to grow the loyalty business (there are now more than 3 million Airpoints members) through pursuing new opportunities for existing and new products and partnerships.
• Maximising the growth opportunities from the addition of New York as a new route into North America, a non-stop service from Auckland that will begin in October.
As part of the changes, regional general manager for the Americas Liz Fraser has been replaced by former loyalty boss Jeremy O'Brien.
Kate O'Brien moves into the key loyalty role, now a standalone job. Photo / Supplied
O'Brien has worked for Air New Zealand since 2016, leading its retail marketing, loyalty and contact centre functions.
The key loyalty GM job - which will be a standalone role - will next month be taken up by Kate O'Brien, who has worked for Air New Zealand since 2014 and is seen as a big winner from the changes.
For the past three years she has been GM Networks.
During that time the airline grew strongly and she led the networks team through the disruption caused by Rolls-Royce 787 engine issues, which plagued the airline for more than two years.
She has worked at Qantas and as a management consultant earlier in her career.
As a result of this change, Scott Carr is returning to New Zealand from Singapore to take up the role of GM Networks.
Jeremy O'Brien is moving from loyalty to head the US where Air NZ is expanding. Photo/ Supplied
He has had a 30-year career with Air NZ, in a number of sales, commercial and network management roles.
In his job as regional GM for Asia during the past four years there has been strong growth and an expansion with the addition of the Singapore, Taiwan and Korea markets.
He was brought in to lead key strategic projects in last year's network, fleet and cost reviews. As a result, some plane purchases were deferred, network growth slowed and consultants were brought in to trim head office overhead costs.
Former US boss Fraser will take over the airline's business travel arm Tandem Travel, and will also have responsibility for contact centres and market development.
Before joining Air NZ she led Mediaworks' revenue function.
