After 51 years, Tony Paretovich has hung up his Air New Zealand uniform.
If Tony Paretovich had one word to describe how he felt flying from Brisbane to Auckland on Monday, it would have been “humbled”.
At 71 years old, Paretovich was on his final journey as a flight steward for Air New Zealand; a job he had held for 51 years.
It was an impressive feat that surprised Paretovich as much as anyone.
“I said I’d do it for two years, and that was 51 years ago,” Paretovich told Herald Travel.
Even back then, in 1973, he had happened upon the career by chance. “I really fell into it, rather than any design,” explaining how his girlfriend’s flatmate and boyfriend worked with the airline.
One day, the boyfriend asked what Paretovich did for a job and suggested he consider working as a flight attendant.
“He said, ‘These flight stewards seem to be pretty well paid’,” Paretovich said. So, after spending 18 months gaining experience in hospitality, he applied to work on DC8 aircraft.
As for why he stayed, Paretovich said it was satisfying to make quick progress at the company.
“I got promoted very quickly, and we all moved through the ranks,” he said.
“The reason why was we were getting the DC10s, we were replacing the DC8s, and due to the number of people coming through, there were vacancies.”
However, the ability to meet people from all walks of life was another draw.
“The interactions, the different perspectives, different points of view, what people are doing, it’s very interesting,” he said.
“You don’t know who you’re talking to, you could be talking to prime ministers; you don’t know. I’ve met people I otherwise would never have gotten near.”
Had he met anyone famous? No one comes to mind, according to Paretovich, but even if they did, he’s the kind of flight steward who keeps those things hush-hush.
Working on the international routes, Paretovich said, they did a little bit of everything.
“Los Angeles, Houston, Vancouver, San Francisco, Japan, Korea - we did all of them.” Honolulu was a firm favourite.
“Weather was one factor, but everything was close and handy there, and there was a variety of things to do,” he explained. “Of all the places you go, it never changes; it’s really good. I like it.”
However, few things beat the sight of Tāmaki Makaurau.
“I did my final flight [on Monday]; I sat on the flight deck coming into Auckland, and what a beautiful city. It’s quite amazing.”
Aside from awe, Paretovich said he was deeply humbled.
“It was quite humbling, you know? Being among all the crew and Air NZ staff. It’s very humbling to think of what it took to put an aeroplane in the sky. Everybody was working behind the scenes, and we don’t even know the half of it.”
After all this time, he was still delighted by the magic of it on his final flight.
“Within five minutes, we were up 25,000 feet, looking back down, how do you do that?”
NZ146 was his last flight as an employee but certainly not the last time Paretovich would take to the skies.
He said he and his partner planned to travel far and wide. “We will be travelling quite a bit from now on,” he said.
“I’d like to go through Asia, across Australia, Asia, through Europe and, if I’m still able, down through Africa.”
Lower prices, fewer crowds, less heat – and the locals are happier, too.