AIRWAYS CORPORATION OF NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF AIRWAYS CORPORATION OF NEW ZEALAND LIMITED
HELD AT AIRWAYS CORPORATION, QUEENSTOWN TOWER, QUEENSTOWN AIRPORT
ON THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2023 AT 8.00AM – 3.00PM
Present:
Denise Church (Chair), Mark Pitt (Deputy Chair), Darin Cusack, Lisa Jacobs,
Mark Hutchinson, Nicola Greer, John Holt, Gavin Fernandez and Terry Paddy.
In attendance:
James Young, CEO
Sharon Cooke, CEO Airways International Limited
Jamie Gray, GM Commercial & Partnerships and Acting Head of People and
Capability
Katie Wilkinson, GM Air Traffic Services (MS Teams)
Geoff Peck, Chief Information Officer (MS Teams)
Kim Nichols, Head of Safety & Assurance (MS Teams)
Erin Lee, Acting Chief Financial Officer (MS Teams)
Tina Douglas, Senior Legal Counsel
James Evans, Head of Surveillance, Air Traffic Services (MS Teams)
Geoff Hounsell, Surveillance Services Manager North, Air Traffic Services (MS
Team)
BOARD ONLY TIME
The Board met alone from approximately 8.00am to 8.40pm.
The Board met with the CEO without management present from approximately 8.45am – 9.35am.
FORMAL BOARD AGENDA
The Board Meeting commenced at 9.40am.
The Board acknowledged and thanked the management team for their work overseas at the recent
CANSO/Europe trip.
The Chair noted areas of focus for the meeting included strategic direction, systems learnings from recent
weather events, UAV management, safety trends and the financial outlook for FY24.
ITEM 1.0
BOARD MATTERS
Item 1.1
Continuous Disclosure
No matters were raised.
Item 1.2
Register of Directors’ Interests
The Board
noted the Register of Directors’ Interests.
Item 1.3
Minutes of Board Meeting held 16 February 2023
The Board
approved the minutes of the previous ACNZ Board meeting held on 16 February 2023 as a true
and correct record of that meeting.
Item 1.4
Matters Arising and Action Items
The Board
noted the Matters Arising and Action Items from the 16 February 2023 Board meeting.
ITEM 2.0
STRATEGIC PAPERS / PRESENTATIONS
Item 2.1
Question – what are the system learnings from recent weather events?
Geoff Peck, James Evans and Geoff Hounsell joined the meeting at approximately 9.50am.
The Board:
• noted management’s learnings from recent adverse weather events, with management needing
to consider operational and systems resilience, future enhancements that would further mitigate
potential risk and to take a holistic approach in the New Zealand aviation system;
• noted the processes the business had undertaken to mitigate the effect of the recent weather
events;
• chal enged management on further potential improvements to ensure resilience in operations
and future enhancements to mitigate risk;
• discussed potential methods Airways could employ to mitigate the risks arising from climate change;
• discussed the potential implications of a wider geographically spread weather event and the systems
in place to mitigate the risk associated with that;
• acknowledged and thanked management in respect of the complementary feedback received from
NZALPA for management’s handling of staff;
• discussed crisis management across the multiple agencies within the aviation sector including where
responsibility lies.
The Board thanked management for their efforts in successful y navigating the recent adverse weather
events.
The paper was
noted.
ACTION: Management to review in 6 months with a brief report on what has been done to improve
operational and systems resilience, considering these learnings.
Item 2.2
Refreshed Company Strategy and Strategic Roadmap
Management reported that in developing the strategic roadmap, management had been mindful of the need
to return a profit to shareholders when considering the budgeting requirements, whilst acknowledging
inflationary and operational cost challenges which may impact profit.
The Board and management had a general discussion on the strategic direction and the roadmap,
including:
• noting the new strategy presents an opportunity for Airways to take a leadership role in the industry
in various areas including sustainability / climate change;
• noting the shareholder’s expectations regarding diversity and incorporating Te Ao Māori practises.
The Board noted that management would continue to develop diversity and incorporate Te Ao
Māori practises in its future strategy;
• collaboration, designing future systems and moving towards digital options and having greater
visibility in this space, identifying opportunities and bringing others on the journey. The Board
chal enged management to take a more active/visible role and be much bolder in its approach;
• challenging management on the Airways three-step approach (Connect, Build and Evolve).
Management confirmed that further work would be undertaken and an external consultant would
be engaged to assist further;
• the Board noted that the strategy needs to consider “what good looks like for Airways”, be bold in its
aspirations and the need to be dynamic in its approach. The Board requested that future Board
papers be aligned with the pillars set out in the roadmap;
• discussion around people development and capacity and investing in this. The Board queried
whether Airways had resources to deliver on the strategy. Management confirmed that there is
sufficient resource; and
• noting that the relationship with NZALPA was being reset which had created a positive shift in
paradigm of that relationship.
The Board:
1.
noted the updated company strategy incorporating feedback from the Board;
2.
approved the 2023-2033 Airways Strategy, subject to the minor adjustment from Board; and
3.
noted a communications and stakeholder plan wil be prepared to communicate and support the
release of the new strategy to Airways people, customers and stakeholders.
Jamie Gray left the meeting at approximately 11.10am
The Board took a break from approximately 11.10 to 11.25am.
Item 2.3
UAV Management
Johl Steel-Brown and Sharon Cooke joined the meeting at approximately 11.25 am.
The Board discussed UAV management including;
• management’s actions to mitigate the potential risk associated with UAV usage;
• whether the agencies management was engaging and collaborating collectively;
• current lack of a statutory regime mandating registration;
• s9(2)(g)(i)
The paper was
noted.
ACTION: Management to consider potential options and develop a proposal for UAV management.
Johl Steel-Brown left meeting at approximately 11.45am.
ITEM 3.0
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Item 3.1
Board Company Safety Report & Site Safety Visits
Goeff Peck and Kim Nichols joined the meeting at approximately 11.45am.
In response to a question, management confirmed that the decrease in overall safety performance
indicators was not a trend and explained the rationale for the decrease.
The Board and management discussed the Airways Involved and Airways Attributable classifications and the
use of these labels to identify safety incidents early in the process. Management explained that the focus
should be on identifying risk, learnings and safety culture, rather than labelling an “incident” at the
preliminary stages.
The Board agreed that the focus should be around learnings of the systems and requested that the Safety
Sub-Committee consider this at the next meeting.
ACTION: Safety Sub-Committee to give further consideration to the classifications of safety incidents and
the label classifications.
Kim Nichols left the meeting at approximately 12.05pm
The paper was
noted.
Item 3.2
Safety Update
Management highlighted that the reporting culture has lagged recently, possibly due to fear of attribution
and that this was being explored.
Management provided a further update on the electrical incident to the Board including a future focus on
“Presence of Safety” and having greater visibility across the business. The Board acknowledged the change in
focus as a positive move by management.
The paper was
noted.
ACTIONS:
1. Management to provide the Board with an update on progress at the May 2023 Board meeting.
2. Management to provide a more detailed report to the Safety Sub-Committee in August 2023 on
progress with “Presence of Safety”.
The paper was
noted.
Geoff Peck left the meeting at approximately 12.20pm.
ITEM 4.0
PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND UPDATE
Item 4.1
CEO Executive Summary and Company Performance
s9(2)(h)&s6(c)
The Board and management discussed the Wel ington Divergent Missed Approach with the concerns raised
by residents around consultation. The Board noted that management is continuing to work with WIAL who
are undertaking further noise monitoring, s9(2)(h)&s6(c)
The paper was
noted.
ITEM 5.0
PAPERS FOR APPROVAL OR KEY INFORMATION
Erin Lee joined the meeting at approximately 12.35pm.
Item 5.1
Airways FY24 Financial Outlook
The Board and management had a general discussion on the financial outlook and macro business planning,
including:
• the effect of high interest rates and chal enging business environment requiring Airways to remain
agile;
• management’s preference for resourcing of initiatives to utilise external consultants, rather than
increase headcount;
• management wil seek to reduce travel budgets by 10% given it is a discretionary expense;
• the Board chal enged the business on some of the projected margin forecasts with management
acknowledging that further work and adjustments wil need to be made;
• discussions regarding newer technologies and continued investment in high tech equipment and
CAPEX considerations. Management noted that there is a limit in CAPEX spend in any given year and
that it is focusing on tools that can enhance productivity.
The Board noted the potential uncertainties for revenue due to the general economic activity and requested
that management navigate this whilst building the next generation of air navigation systems and be highly
strategic on expenditure. The Board stressed their expectation that management spend prudently for the
long-term future, avoid investment in staffing that extend the ways “we don’t want to work” and the use of
consultants and prioritise resources.
Erin Lee left the meeting at approximately 12.55pm.
Item 5.2
Minor changes to Board approved policies
The Board noted the definition around minor / major change could be refined to address a potential gap.
The Board noted the change to the ELT Framework.
ACTION: Lisa Jacobs to provide some wording to address the potential gap.
The Board broke for lunch from approximately 1.00pm.
The Board adjourned to hold the AIL meeting from 1.35pm to 2.10pm and recommenced the ACNZ Board
meet at approximately 2.10pm.
