The Prime Minister had a chance to chat today with the man who will soon start running one of the country’s most high-profile companies.
Christopher Luxon was at the opening of Air New Zealand’s huge new Hangar 4 at Auckland Airport today.
Joining him were fellow former CEO Ralph Norris, current chief executive Greg Foran and future chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar.
Luxon said he and Ravishankar also had a chance to meet and talk a few weeks ago.
“I gave him my thoughts on my experience leading the airline,” Luxon said today.
He said he told Ravishankar: “Trust your instincts and make sure you build a great commercial business, make sure that you have great customer satisfaction and importantly, that you build a great internal culture.”
He added: “It’s a really challenging business to run. A small airline from a small country in this part of the world is always very challenging.”
Luxon was asked about the airline’s performance relative to its main Australian competitor.
Qantas Group made a $1.78 billion profit in the latest financial year, up 28% on a year earlier.
Air New Zealand made a $126 million net profit after tax, down from $146m the year before.
And last week, Qantas and its Jetstar stablemate announced a major expansion of transtasman and New Zealand domestic routes.
Luxon said he wouldn’t get involved in discussing the airline’s current performance as he was no longer its CEO.
But he said of Air New Zealand: “It’s a great company and they’ll continue to grow. They’re key to opening up markets around the world and key to bringing tourists here to New Zealand as well.”
Luxon also mentioned the Aviation Action Plan, which his colleague James Meager released on Tuesday.
“This is a country that has an outstanding tourism proposition,” the PM said.
The action plan, developed by a bipartisan council with input from operators across the sector, has received a broadly positive response this week.
Kiri Hannifin, Air New Zealand chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer, said the airline welcomed the plan.
“Aviation is part of who we are as a nation, and this new plan is an important milestone in our collective work to ensure the sector continues to thrive for the benefit of all New Zealanders.”
NZ Airports also welcomed the new plan, saying it marked the first time government and industry had come together to set a long-term strategy for aviation.
Luxon today also addressed concerns about measuring skill shortages.
Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen this week suggested New Zealand did not collect anywhere near enough data on the skill levels of people leaving the country.
According to Stats NZ, annual net outflows of New Zealand citizens hit a record high of 47,600 in the year to June 30.
That was driven by migration departures strengthening to a record 73,480.
Olsen said the country had no idea how skilled those emigrants were.
“We’ve got an immigration policy that is constantly dynamic, constantly wanting to attract people to New Zealand with those skills,” Luxon said today.
“You’re seeing a huge focus from this Government with educational reform.”
He said the Government was ditching NCEA and launching some other reforms in order for young New Zealanders to acquire more skills and access higher-paying jobs.
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.