Director and Chair of the Board’s People, Culture and Safety Committee Sarah Ottrey says the search for the new Chief Executive involved some exceptional candidates both onshore and offshore.

She says the Board is very pleased to announce it has appointed Justin Watson as the next Chief Executive of Christchurch Airport.

Justin is currently the airport’s Chief Aeronautical and Commercial Officer, and will take over as Chief Executive on 1 January 2023.

He grew up in Christchurch and came to the airport with a wide commercial experience, including working for Tourism New Zealand to market New Zealand on the global stage, with a particular focus on trade and aviation.

“Justin has been a key leader in this company’s strategy activation over the past decade and has particular strengths and experience in destination marketing, customer focus, working with our airline partners and understanding Christchurch,” Sarah says.

“He will continue to build our proposition and reputation across these and our core strategic priorities.

“We are very proud of what our high performing team has achieved over what has been a very challenging decade. So many aspects of what the team does positively impacts our company, our community, our customers, our sector, our country and in some cases the global aviation sector. We know Justin will lead and support the team to keep doing that.

“Malcolm Johns will finish his time as our Chief Executive on 31 December 2022 and I take this opportunity to thank him for his service over the past nine years. We will formally farewell him in late February.”