The Act Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister has taken aim at the airline, focusing too much on “virtue-signalling fantasies” that are a “distraction from core business”.
“There’s other things I know about that I’m not talking about, by the way, just for anyone at Air New Zealand that thinks I’m being unfair. There’s other stuff we could be talking about, that we’re not,” he told The Front Page.
Seymour said that he couldn’t reveal what the “other stuff” is because he thinks “that they have the right to a bit of privacy”.
“But we’ll see. Some of these things will come out in time.
“Let’s just say I suspect some of their staff, over time, will talk more,” he said.
The revelation came as Seymour targeted the airline’s interest in electric planes and biofuel research.
Air NZ, along with many other airlines worldwide, is working towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It’s after its initial 2030 climate target was scrapped, citing the affordability of alternative jet fuels.
“Where does the bad luck end and the taking responsibility begin?
“Twenty percent of their annual report is all about their climate policy. They spend all this time trying to make biofuels and fly electric planes and take paper cups out of the Koru lounge,” he said.
The airline has said it was carrying out a comprehensive “reset” after the worse-than-expected performance in the last six months of 2025.
“We need to be fighting fit in a number of different versions of what the future holds and that’s what we’re focused on,” Air NZ chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar said.
He told the Herald that they’ve had “a bit of a breakthrough” as far as negotiations with the engine manufacturers are concerned.
“We should have half of our grounded aircraft now back up and running by the end of the year.”
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Does Air NZ still serve the taxpayer?
- Asset sales and asset recycling
- Public opinion
- Slimming down central government.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
