These three people are Caroline Haley, Airport Manager, Ian Collier, Regional Manager and André Hill, Operations Manager, all working for Air New Zealand. They are explaining to me what it takes to be able to work for an airline. It’s hard work in often unpredictable circumstances, and a huge number of things have to go right for it to run smoothly.

“So you simply must love what you do,” Caroline says. “Every day is different here,” explains André. Ian agrees: “It just shouldn’t be logistically possible to do what we do, but it is. When you are moving millions of people and their bags daily, the opportunity for something to go wrong is enormous. Aside from gravity, we are working against the weather, the price of fuel, and any number of unpredictable factors.”

There’s an almost infinite variety of everyday things to deal with, such as the weird and wonderful items people want to bring on board with them, unaccompanied minors, and people who have never been in an airport in their lives. Every new situation requires special attention, and this can only be given when the right environment exists to plan and train for all the variables. How does the company achieve this?

“It’s so important to build culture from the top,” Ian says. “If you don’t train for it and plan for it, a culture will develop on it’s own – but it’s not going to be the one you want. And you need to do that all the way from the top, down.” This is most probably part of the reason why CEO Rob Fyfe answers his own emails: “You send him a page, you’ll get a page back, every time,” says Caroline. “Reinforcing the important messages from the top means that every staff member will be better equipped to deal with the multitude of things that can, and often do, go wrong.”

Customers are generally pretty unaware of all this planning. “And so they should be,” Ian says. “They have a right to expect that their plane is on time, waiting for them at the gate fully crewed, but when you observe what has happened behind the scenes to make that trip possible, it is mind boggling”. In fact, he believes that it’s when things go wrong that you see the best in an organisation.
“And here there is potential for that like I’ve never seen before!”

Wellington airport, especially, processes a lot of feeder flights into the 737 network. When a disruption occurs, it goes all the way through and takes a huge amount of quick decision-making. André can attest to that, often being singlehandedly relied upon to make a decision on whether the airport closes or stays open. “It takes a certain personality to do this,” she says.

Caroline is quick to defend us customers: “They are really good to us, they’re usually very patient and understanding. Especially considering this is a place where you see every possible emotion take place, regularly. We think it’s the most emotionally charged environment that exists, maybe aside from a sports stadium!” And it’s unlikely that most people are aware that the airport is actually open 22 hours of every day.

New Zealand is a small country, especially when you consider there are three different airlines operating in it. “It’s a fiercely competitive business, and that’s why we have to work hard to find a point of difference. We all have the same planes – what is going to make the experience different for our customers? Our customers are so important to us. For example, we know that 25 per cent of our customers make up 75 per cent of our business. But that doesn’t mean we are going to start ignoring the other 25 per cent.”

Understanding customer behaviour is integral to this service-oriented business. While it’s not always predictable, there are patterns. “Eleven months of the year it is largely business customers, and then around Christmas and school holidays, everything changes. We need to recognise this, and provide for everyone.” The new Koru lounge upgrade caters to those travelling for business, and a helpful eye is kept out for first time flyers and stressed families at holiday time.

It is amazing when you realize how essential our airline is in our country. For a tiny island, it connects us with the world, supports our economy and tourism, and then there’s that koru. We kiwis aren’t an overly sentimental bunch, but you have to admit, standing at an international airport on your return journey to New Zealand, there is something special about seeing that koru on the plane waiting for you at the gate.

Then there are the lesser known facts about the things Air New Zealand does. With 600 people in Wellington and 11,000 people nationwide, they’re a huge employer. And that’s not including all the suppliers and small businesses – a large number of organisations depend heavily on their relationships with our national carrier.

Air New Zealand may be a large company in New Zealand, but as Ian says: “What always puts things into perspective is when we compare ourselves to who we’re actually competing against. We are the 38th biggest airline is the world – and that makes us a tiny fish in a global market. We like to think we are a big company that thinks like a small one.”

Of course they are also always battling against other unpredictable things. Consumer behaviour for example; people buying flatscreen TVs instead of going on holiday. Fuel prices are important and out of their control: a rise in the price of fuel can knock millions of dollars off the bottom line. And then there’s the competition with other countries. “They’re our competitors. When you think about trying to convince people to fly Air New Zealand, that means asking them to come to New Zealand rather than go somewhere else.” In this way their spend greatly influences our largest industry – tourism.
Air New Zealand already has work under way with Tourism Wellington to plan for the Rugby World Cup in 2011. “Wearable Arts, Sevens, RWC quarter finals . . . you know, there’s not enough hotels in Wellington to support the quarter finals, so we will be involved in making sure people can fly out. We have to be involved very early on in the planning – not just as an afterthought.”

SPEAKING OF FORETHOUGHT, ONE OF AIR New Zealand’s goals is to become the most environmentally friendly airline in the world. “We know we pollute the air, we don’t try to dispute that, we just try to do what we can to be proactive about it. But at the same time, it’s important to remember that airlines account for only two per cent of emissions in the world. There’s a huge amount of misconception which can be hard to deal with. But we are about making change, not trying to dispute science.” Like putting wingtips on their 767s, test flights on the new generation biofuels, and the recent Auckland–San Francisco flight that used 4600 litres (that’s four per cent) less fuel.

This is an example of the thinking that’s just a little bit different here. Another is their marketing – by now you will have seen a bald head or two with that familiar koru logo tattooed on the back. And everyone knows about Grabaseat, which has created a kind of cult following in New Zealand. “It’s a little bit nonconformist,” smiles Ian.

I have a feeling that may be a bit of an understatement . . . Consider the ‘pimp my plane’ campaign, bands playing on board, and the yearly ‘pink flight’ to celebrate Mardi Gras. And Caroline tells me that staff are always encouraged to contribute new ideas for marketing that they may have.
Speaking of staff, who are these people that make everything happen? Ian marvels at their tenacity. “There’s a guy who has been working for the company in our Wellington weather out on the tarmac for 29 years running. It’s incredible.”

Caroline explains CEO Rob Fyfe’s strong belief in hiring for attitude, and then increasing aptitude. Gareth and Krishneel, both airline assistants, tell me how great it is to have the chance to move upwards when you are ready. They’ve both recently been promoted themselves, and appreciate the opportunity to keep moving.

Every new employee goes through a special induction programme. Ian, only 18 months into his position, remembers his own induction clearly. “It was unlike any I’ve ever been through in my entire career, you just leave feeling proud.”

One whole day of the programme is presented by the executive team, who get to meet every single new employee – no small undertaking when you remember how many employees they have.
“We have lot of young people working for us, and we focus hard on teaching good lifeskills. You need that to be able to understand what an old man, or a mother with a baby, needs.” Caroline tells a story about how, just last night, an elderly gentleman who had come in from Auckland went to the bathroom and missed the last flight to Timaru. “The team manager on duty was going to take him home to his own house. He ended up managing to get him to Christchurch and then to Timaru that night, but it’s stories like that . . . it’s just amazing.”

Our interview at an end, I’m feeling somewhat dubious about whether our photographer’s suggestion of an on-tarmac photoshoot will go down well with Ian and Caroline, both busy, important leaders of one of the largest organisations in the country. But I needn’t have worried. “Let’s do it!” says Caroline “After all, we’re plane people!”

Growing the staff you want

Air New Zealand uses four simple statements to base their staff training on: ‘Be yourself.’ ‘Welcome as a friend.’ ‘Share your New Zealand.’ ‘Can Do.’ Your organisation may not have a clearly defined set of brand characteristics but, big or small, it can benefit from some attention to the way you ‘grow your staff’.

ACCESSIBLE LEADERSHIP - Make sure the people at the top are visible to your staff. Have everyone meet at least once, and in a smaller organisation encourage interaction. Try to eliminate that feeling that the boss lives behind a closed door.

WORK ON IT CONSTANTLY - “It may sound cliché, but we feel like a family here,” says Caroline. “And every family has to work on their culture, otherwise you get a dysfunctional one!”

DEMONSTRATE FROM THE TOP - There’s no use your employees being asked to do one thing, and watching those above them do another.

DON’T LET THE CULTURE GROW ITSELF - “If you let it, it will. But it won’t be the one you want,” cautions Ian.

PUT EFFORT INTO TRAINING - A little effort now will have huge returns. Make a conscious decision to prioritise training within your organisation.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE - Remember that your staff are the ones who keep your business going. At Air New Zealand they make the ‘impossible’ possible. That’s something worth investing in!