Air New Zealand has appointed Leanne Geraghty to the newly created position of Chief Customer and Sales Officer.

Ms Geraghty is one of the airline's most experienced global leaders and will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran.

"Leanne is an outstanding leader with a tremendous depth of industry knowledge having worked in the aviation and tourism industries on both sides of the Tasman for more than 30 years and led teams around the world. Her detailed knowledge of the New Zealand, Australian and Pacific Island markets in particular sets us up well for the post COVID-19 international tourism recovery when the time comes," Mr Foran says.

"Leanne is held in the highest regard by key stakeholders ranging from trade and Government partners through to our most valuable customers and her fellow Air New Zealanders. She cares deeply about the success of our airline and its ability to make a positive difference for our nation."

Ms Geraghty is currently Group General Manager Airports and has responsibility for more than 1,800 employees and operations across 50 airports internationally. Originally from Australia, she holds a Bachelor of Economics and Finance from the University of New South Wales and has studied International Business Management at IMD in Switzerland and Marketing at the Australian Institute of Marketing. She is also a graduate from the Company Directors course from the Australian Institute of Directors.

Meantime, Chief Financial Officer Jeff McDowall has confirmed he intends to leave the airline towards the middle of 2021 after the completion of the planned capital raise.

“Jeff is playing a critical role in supporting myself and the Board as we rebuild from the ravages of COVID-19, but after a career spanning more than two decades with the airline, he feels it will be time to open a new chapter of his career once the capital raise is complete. We will shortly commence a global search for a successor, and I would like to thank Jeff for giving us such a long line of sight of his career intentions. He has had an illustrious career at Air New Zealand, including as acting Chief Executive Officer pending me starting earlier this year. Without Jeff's leadership over the past two decades, especially as part of the Executive team in recent years, the airline would not have delivered its long run of commercial success or grown its international footprint around the world so successfully”