Air New Zealand appoints Nikhil Ravishankar to replace Greg Foran as CEO
Mr Ravishankar will officially take over the top job from Greg Foran from October 20, four years after joining Air New Zealand from technology company Vector.
The airline was Mr Ravishankar's first job in aviation, after an early career spent in telecommunications, tech and on boards including the Auteur influencer network.
Air New Zealand chair Dame Therese Walsh said Mr Ravishankar's promotion marked the beginning of the next chapter for the airline, and reflected 'a new generation of leadership for the future'.
'Nikhil brings the mindset and contemporary leadership we need to build on our strong foundations and focus on the future,' said Dame Therese.
'The board undertook an extensive international search and were delighted to see Nikhil come through the process so strongly. His ambition for the airline's future and his people leadership skills, coupled with his pursuit of excellence, digital literacy, global outlook and relationships, and his deep care for the airline and New Zealand shone through.'
She said airlines would continue to face 'immense challenges' whether that was 'climate change, customer expectations, technology, cost pressures of geopolitics'.
'Nikhil brings a fresh perspective that is grounded in New Zealand values and a deep knowledge of the airline and critical infrastructure across different sectors,' said Dame Therese.
'He's not afraid to challenge how things are done and ask questions.'
Mr Ravishankar said he was 'both thrilled and humbled' to be given the opportunity to lead Air New Zealand, which he described as an 'institution with a deep legacy and a fantastic future'.
'It's a privilege to step into the CEO role and take on that responsibility for our people, our customers, and our country,' said Mr Ravishankar.
'Our airline is among the very best, and I'm excited to help shape what this next stage of Air New Zealand looks like.'
Mr Foran will leave in October after a handover to Ravishankar, but as yet the former US Walmart CEO has not revealed his next move.
When he joined Air New Zealand in February 2020, Mr Foran faced crisis after crisis, with Covid-related border closures all but shutting down the airline completely within five weeks of his appointment.
Since the pandemic, the airline has continued to face challenges, the biggest of which concerned shortages in engine components, resulting in the grounding of up to 11 aircraft.
Full year guidance issued in April, indicated Air New Zealand expected to take a substantial hit from the groundings with earnings before tax in the range of NZ$150m and NZ$190m (AU$137m to AU$173m).
The 63-year-old said it was entirely his decision to leave, adding the 'board was very keen for him to stay' but he felt he 'had another itch to scratch'.
'I'm not too sure what that would be, but I'm excited, and, you know, I've worked and lived in five different countries now, and enjoy it, enjoy going to work, enjoy difficult challenges and this has been one of those,' he told The Australian in May.
His legacy to the airline will be a new cabin layout for the fleet of Boeing 787s, intended to help Air New Zealand remain competitive on trans-Pacific routes.
Next year, the carrier will take delivery of two new 787s fitted with the innovative Skynest feature — offering economy passengers the chance of a lie-down on ultra-long-haul flights.
The six-bed stack which will replace two middle rows of economy seats, follows the success of the airline's 'Skycouch'.
Mr Ravishankar is the second new airline CEO in the region this year, following Virgin Australia's promotion of Dave Emerson this year after the departure of Jayne Hrdlicka.
Originally published as Air New Zealand taps insider Nikhil Ravishankar to replace CEO Greg Foran Read related topics: Climate Change
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Mr Johnson, who is the same developer behind Lake Macquarie's Watagan Park project, said the project was aimed at city-siders looking to escape to the regions in the post-COVID era, adding that designs had reduced the number of apartments but increased their size to cater to changing market tastes. "People want to move to the country. They want to move, but they want bigger units," he said. "It's a really luxurious lifestyle." He now hopes that, with development approvals secured, the project will move to detail designs and ultimately to tender within the next year. He estimated it would be a three-year build after that. "This project is about putting Lake Macquarie on the global stage," Mr Johnson said. "We're not just building something beautiful we're creating a destination that will showcase the best of this region to the world and leave a lasting legacy for generations to come." 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The Age
10 hours ago
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The US economy keeps chugging along. Does everyone owe Trump an apology?
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While tariffs have been in place for months and raised tens of billions of additional dollars for US government coffers, the new tariffs, which go into effect in a week, represent the first time since Trump came to power that there has been the semblance of certainty over what the rates will be – at least for now. Still, the US economy seems to be more robust than the doomsday predictions considered. So, do the world's economists owe Trump an apology? Maurice Obstfeld, of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, says it is too soon to decide. 'These behavioural shifts have made GDP data more volatile than usual,' he says. 'Let's wait for the tariffs to settle down at new, predictable levels and see what happens before we shoot the economists.' Louise Sheiner, an economist at the Brookings Institution, espoused a similar view to The New York Times: 'We're going to look back and either say, 'Wow, the economy was super resilient and these things didn't matter as much as we thought they would', or we're going to say, 'Yeah, you could kind of feel it was weakening'.' Justin Wolfers, an Australian economics professor at the University of Michigan, and a regular critic of Trump's economic agenda, says there is still a decent chance of the US economy heading south later this year. 'When I was asked in the first half of the year for a forecast of the chances of a recession, I was careful to give a conditional forecast: if they go for the 'Full Trump', then 75 per cent, and if they drop their nonsense, then 25 per cent,' he says. Loading 'As it happened, he started with the Full Trump, then TACO'd. So perhaps the correct probability is somewhere between 25 and 75 per cent, and probably something like 40 per cent. That still seems right to me.' The term TACO stands for Trump Always Chickens Out – a popular critique of the president's tendency to make scary announcements, before backtracking or reverting to the norm. 'The idea that a single quarterly reading on a single measure says anything about [the economy being a] miracle or mirage is silly on its face,' Wolfers says. 'The economy isn't as bad as folks forecast, but neither was the actual policy that the White House was telling us we should expect.' In moments of candour, the Trump administration acknowledges American consumers might pay higher prices for some goods, but it is convinced economic growth will compensate. Hassett said as much this week, noting real wages had grown, which 'means people have more money in their pockets than the price increases that they've seen'. Board appointees break ranks Trump is also desperate to stimulate economic growth with lower interest rates, hence his constant badgering of Jerome 'Too Late' Powell to cut the rate. Despite Trump insisting 'there is no inflation' (it is 2.7 per cent), the majority of the bank's board wants to see more data before it makes a move – although the market expects cuts later this year. Loading But for the first time in three decades, two governors dissented from Wednesday's decision. Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman – both Trump appointees to the board from his first term – voted to cut rates by 0.25 points. Both are considered candidates to replace Powell when his term expires next year. [In his dissenting reasons, published Friday in the US, Waller said tariffs only caused a one-off increase in prices, which the bank should 'look through', while soft growth meant monetary policy should be 'close to neutral'. The 'wait and see' approach was overly cautious, he said. Bowman said inflation had fallen - excluding tariff-related increases - and noted the slower growth in private domestic final purchases, a leading indicator of consumer spending.] Arthur Sinodinos, a former Australian ambassador to the US who now works at the Asia Group, says now that Australia's tariff rate has been confirmed at 10 per cent, its main worries will be what impact the tariff regime has on global economic conditions, as well as the US economy.
