The Air New Zealand Limited (ASX: AIZ) share price is climbing today amid news the company's chief operating officer has resigned.
At the time of writing, Air New Zealand shares are up 1.90% trading at $1.61.
We take a closer look at what could be lifting the airline operator's share price.
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Air New Zealand COO takes top job at peer company
In today's release, Air New Zealand advised that chief operating officer Carrie Hurihanganui has resigned from her position.
Ms Hurihanganui will depart the airline for a new role as CEO at Auckland International Airport Ltd (ASX: AIA). The move will happen in early 2022, with Air New Zealand starting its process to appoint a replacement.
Ms Hurihanganui will replace Auckland Airport chief executive Adrian Littlewood who is scheduled to finish up on 12 November. The airport's corporate services general manager Mary-Liz Tuck will fill CEO position in the interim.
What did management say?
Commenting on the news, Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said:
Joining over 22 years ago as an international cabin crew member and rising to lead more than 6000 people, Carrie has developed exceptional leadership skills and operational knowledge.
Carrie has done an exceptional job, especially since COVID began to impact our business. It was no small feat to keep our operations running across engineering, airports, airline operations, properties, supply chain, cabin crew and pilots during a constantly changing crisis…
The surprise personnel loss hasn't deterred investors, with the Air New Zealand share price continuing to rise.
As Australia is considered New Zealand's biggest tourism market, a climbing share price might be a reflection of Australia's accelerated COVID-19 vaccination rollout finally opening the doors to international travel.
The Australian federal government is planning to resume international flights as early as next month.
Air New Zealand share price review
Over the past 12 months, the Air New Zealand share price has travelled more than 20% higher, while year-to-date remains flat.
Its shares ticked up a notch during mid-August just before the company's earnings results for the 2021 financial year.
Air New Zealand presides a market capitalisation of roughly $1.81 billion and has approximately 1.1 billion shares outstanding.
