Air New Zealand announced that its chief operating officer (COO) Carrie Hurihanganui resigned and will take up the role of Auckland International Airport CEO from early 2022. 

In a statement, Air New Zealand's Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said Hurihanganui’s extensive career with the airline has been an inspiration to many within the company.

“Joining more than 22 years ago as an international cabin crew member and rising to lead over 6,000 people, Carrie has developed exceptional leadership skills and operational knowledge. It will be very sad to see her leave the company, but great to see her lead an organisation we work so closely with,”  Foran said.

“Carrie has done an exceptional job, especially since COVID began to impact our business. It was no small feat to keep our operations running across engineering, airports, airline operations, properties, supply chain, cabin crew and pilots during a constantly changing crisis. The industry may not be out of this yet, but it will be nice to know Carrie isn’t too far away as we work together to rebuild aviation for New Zealanders,” he added.

The airline said it will launch the process to appoint a successor in the coming months.