Luxon blasts Air NZ for $242m loss, tells airline to 'deal with their issues' promptly

Author: John Weekes,
Publish Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2026, 4:16pm

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said his former company, Air New Zealand, needs to get its act together. Photo / Corey Fleming

Former Air NZ chief executive and current Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has blasted the airline, saying it needs to get its act together “very quickly”.

The airline posted a $242m after-tax loss and lost $336 million before tax in the last financial year.

It cited volatile fuel prices, high maintenance costs, engine availability and aviation system costs for the loss.

But it seems the Prime Minister was having none of that.

He was at the Leaders of the Realm (New Zealand, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau) meeting today and asked about the airline results at a press conference.

He said it was a “pretty poor performance” and added: “It’s really up for them to explain what’s caused such a significant loss and also, more importantly, what are they going to do to build a better business?”

Luxon indicated the Government had no interest in giving the airline more money.

“As a Government, our responsibility is to appoint directors. We’ve got new directors coming on board with deep aviation experience, which is a positive, and that will help the company strengthen and improve its performance.”

Those new directors are former Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson and Contact Energy chair Rob McDonald, who was previously an Air New Zealand chief financial officer.

Luxon ruled out any financial assistance for the flag carrier.

“They’re a company that stands alone. We expect them to be commercial, we expect them to deal with their issues and to solve their challenges.

“It’s clearly a very poor result. It’s clearly a very poor performance, even in the context of global aviation and other airlines as well.”

Airlines worldwide have faced challenges from rising jet fuel prices since the latest major Middle East war started on February 28.

But this week, Qantas posted a more than $1.5 billion profit after tax.

Luxon was more conciliatory when describing the airline’s chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar, who took over last October.

“I know there’s a new CEO who’s doing a great job,” Luxon said.

“We expect them to very quickly turn it around and get the company growing again and performing strongly.”

The PM’s broadside today might have some wondering if he could do a better job.

Luxon was Air NZ chief executive for almost seven years.

He left before Covid, and there were no major, prolonged jet fuel crises during that time but here’s how the airline performed financially under his tenure:

2013: $181m profit after tax
2014: $263m profit after tax
2015: $327m profit after tax
2016: $463m profit after tax
2017: $382m profit after tax
2018: $390m profit after tax
2019: $270m profit after tax

Ravishankar today told the Herald he expected the airline to be profitable a year from now, but that depended heavily on jet fuel prices not rising.

John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He also has experience covering consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.