Chief Operating Officer Carrie Hurihanganui has resigned from Air New Zealand to take on the role of Chief Executive at Auckland Airport. Carrie intends to take up her new role early in 2022.

Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran says Carrie’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.

“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.”

The airline will get underway with a process to appoint a successor in the coming months.