Air New Zealand to split operations as executive bows out

Air New Zealand's operations will be split into ground and air "pillars" in an organisational restructure sparked by the departure of long-serving executive Bruce Parton. Parton, who joined the airline in 1996 and has been chief of operations since 2013,  will leave on September 28 and chief executive Chistopher Luxon said he had used the departure to reflect on the airline’s structure. Luxon said Parton had told him last year he was likely to leave the business to take abreak from corporate life “after a long and hugely successful leadership stint”. He said this had allowed the two to work together to ensure the foundation’s were in place to build on Parton’s legacy. “Given Bruce gave me an early indication of his likely timeline to leave Air New Zealand I have used this as an opportunity to reflect on how we structure our Operations capabilities as the airline accelerates into this next exciting growth phase,’’ Luxon said in an update. “In future, the organisational structure of our operations function will be split into two pillars – one focused on ground operations and another focused on air operations. “I will look to appoint a chief ground operations officer shortly to work alongside chief air operations & people safety officer John Whittaker. “I will be considering both internal and external candidates.” Parton held various leadership roles before he was appointed to Air New Zealand’s executive as group general manager short haul airlines in 2007. In his current role, he was responsible for the major operational areas of the company and leading more than 7000 employees. “Bruce is a highly respected member of the Executive and always brings positive energy to the team,’’ Luxon said “I personally value his tremendous commercial acumen, results orientation and entrepreneurial spirit.” Air New Zealand announced a 9.4 percent fall in half-yearly profit in July but said it expected a second-half boost would see its annual results exceed last year’s. Read: Air NZ expects second-highest annual profit as it heads to Taipei It predicted it was on track for the second highest profit in the company’s history.