India-Origin Nikhil Ravishankar Set To Become Air New Zealand's CEO

India-origin Nikhil Ravishankar is set to take over as the CEO of Air New Zealand from October this year after being associated with the carrier for nearly five years.

Incidentally, Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson is from New Zealand.

"Currently the airline's Chief Digital Officer, Nikhil will officially take over as CEO on 20 October 2025. In the nearly five years that Nikhil has been at Air New Zealand he has gained a deep understanding of the aviation sector, and the airline. He has also led major advances in the airline's technology backbone, loyalty programme and customer proposition," Air New Zealand said in a statement on July 30.

Prior to joining the airline, Ravishankar was Chief Digital Officer at Vector and Managing Director of Accenture.

"I'm both thrilled and humbled to be given this opportunity to lead Air New Zealand... airlines are complex, and safety underpins every decision we make," he said in the statement.

Air New Zealand offers more than 400 flights a day to 49 domestic and international destinations. It has a fleet of more than 100 planes, including Boeing 777s, 787s, Airbus 320s, ATRs and Q300s, as per its website.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand and Air India, in March this year, announced that they will explore the introduction of a direct service between the two countries by the end of 2028, subject to new aircraft deliveries and approvals from relevant government regulators.

Both airlines had also inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost air connectivity between India and New Zealand. Both airlines will have a new codeshare partnership on 16 routes between India, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.

"Customers will now be able to travel from the Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai on Air India, and connect at Sydney, Melbourne or Singapore onto Air New Zealand-operated flights to Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown," Air India said in March. 

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